Coming Home
by Jasward26
Summary: Jasper had come back home after college to settle down and start a new job, he had no idea that this could all come tumbling down thanks to a certain green eyed boy. All Human AU
1. Chapter 1

Jasper Hale was stood in the middle of his bedroom having no idea what to wear, he was going out for a few celebratory drinks that night with some of his friends. He was a college graduate and just managed to get his first job, he was going to be a teacher of history in a high school and he couldn't be more pleased. This was the first job that he went for after he had graduated and he had succeeded in securing it for himself, of course it would be odd teaching at the school that he had left a few years before but he was looking forward to getting stuck in. He had decided after he finished college that he missed all of his old friends, and they had all gone back home, he realised that this was where he was supposed to be. There being Forks, Washington. To most people this was just a little blip on the map, nothing of consequence, but to him it was home and it always would be the place he was drawn back to. Of course being such a small town Forks was not exactly big on the night life so they had all decided they would go to Port Angeles, it wasn't too far away and although it wasn't huge itself i did boast a better night life than Forks had to offer.

Jasper was 22 years old and had a full head of blonde curls, his hair reached just past his ears. It fell in a mess around his head and he liked it that way, it felt like him. He also had piercing blue eyes like ice, they were a light blue but held so much warmth. He was quite tall standing at 6'4" this he got from his father. He had just recently started renting the apartment he was living in, it was still a little disheveled with the move but he just hadn't found the time yet to sort it all out. All of the sorting would eventually come, but for tonight he just wanted to be able to enjoy himself and celebrate his success in securing himself a position at a school. He had heard back a couple of days ago and was due to start in a few weeks time so he had plenty of time to make sure that his apartment was in order before then. He was actually glad he hadn't rushed in sorting it out, he was glad he would have something to occupy his time. All of his friends would be at work themselves and so he would have nothing to distract himself from the boredom. The apartment was a little one bedroom place, there was no need to have anywhere bigger for now because there was only him. Besides, he had rationalised that it would make the cleaning go much quicker if the space he had to deal with was less. He was so happy when he had started moving things in, this was his first apartment alone. Of course he had stayed in halls when he had been at college, and then had a house share, but this was different. This place was all his, and he could set it out however he wanted to, he could decorate however he wanted to and there would be nobody to nag at him when they felt he was letting it get a bit of a state.

Jasper snapped out of his thoughts of the apartment and back to the predicament at hand. Tonight was supposed to be a few drinks with friends but then, he thought, he should probably make an effort anyway just in case he found a guy who caught his eye. That's right, a guy. Jasper was gay and out of the closet, he hadn't been in the closet since high school and had made the decision that he would not be comfortable going back in now that he was back at home. His parents knew and accepted him, and so did his friends. He didn't see why he should be bothered about what anybody else thought, he had people who loved him and who stuck by him and that was all he needed. Well, not everything, he wouldn't complain at a nice boy to share this with as well. He could get so lonely sometimes, and it wasn't exactly easy to meet anybody in such a small town, where not many people were gay or were definitely not coming out of their closets. He hoped that tonight in Port Angeles he may be able to find somebody, maybe somebody would catch his eye and they would get along great and he wouldn't have to be alone anymore. He had had flings in college but had never had anything more than that, something solid, a real relationship. Jasper knew that he was ready for that, ready to be swept off his feet by love but at this rate that was never going to happen. Unluckily for him his friends liked to think that they would be able to find somebody for him, they were all in couples you see. There was Rose and Emmett, perhaps the two most opposite people you would ever find but who just fit so perfectly together. Emmett was a staggering height and also had the muscles, but he was a big teddy bear. He was the best friend you could have and nothing would ever be too much for him to help you with. Rose, on the other hand, was a petite blonde with a fiery temper, you did not want to get on the wrong side of Rose. But then again she also had her own way of being a good friend, she was so protective of her friends that you just knew you wouldn't ever have to get shit off anybody when she was around, she'd be sure and put them in their places.

Then there was Alice and Jake, they were such a perfect couple. Alice was a tiny little pixie looking thing, and she had all the energy of a pixie too. She would zoom around always busy, and unless you're really fit you should never attempt a shopping trip with her. She would drag you around at 100mph. She also just seemed to know things, she always knew what people were thinking or what was about to happen, it was pretty freaky. Jake on the other hand was again a pretty tall guy. He was a native American and had the most beautiful skin that Jasper had ever seen, he couldn't help but think it and he would have told him had he ever asked. He was probably the only person who seemed to have enough energy to keep up with Alice, and Jasper had no idea where he got his patience from but he had tonnes of it. These were his best friends and he loved them all and all of their different personalities, but none of them could understand what it was like for him, the loneliness he felt. They could spend all of the time with him in the world but it still wouldn't be the same as what they had. Oh well, he thought, maybe tonight is my lucky night for meeting somebody new. He nodded his head, and looked in his mirror again at the outfit that he had on.

He was wearing dark jeans and a navy blue button down shirt, he slipped on his converse. He could do making an effort but there was only so much he could take, the converse were a nice casual accessory for the outfit. He knew that if Alice could see him now she would be going nuts, she would not be too pleased with him dressing down the entire outfit that she had picked out for him earlier that day. She had given him proper shoes to wear with the outfit but it just didn't feel like him, though she was quick to remind him he would have to learn to start dressing up ready for his new job. He didn't mind that he would have to dress up for that, it was just not going to happen while he was going out socially. They were all meeting at a restaurant first and then making their way to a club for drinks and dancing. He quickly checked the time, he had plenty of time before he was supposed to meet them so he checked himself out once more and walked in to his bathroom to do his hair and add the finishing touches. He quickly styled his hair as best he could and sprayed on some cologne, he smiled at himself in the mirror over his sink and he was ready to go. He picked up his keys and his wallet and made his way to the cab that he had ordered earlier in the day. He slipped in to the cab and leant back in his seat, ready for whatever the night was about to bring for him.


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't take too long for Jasper to get to Port Angeles and he quickly paid the cab driver and stepped out on to the street. He walked up to the front of the restaurant and quickly scanned the inside, he couldn't see anybody there yet and decided that he had time for a quick cigarette. He knew that it was such a bad habit and that he should quit but he just couldn't help himself. It was his one bad addiction and he was always promising himself and others that he would quit, but every time he tried it just seemed to keep coming back to him. He had quit now at least 5 times, he knew it was just a weakness but he supposed he had to have at least one vice. He would quit, when the time was right he had decided, and when he felt like he didn't need it anymore then he would get rid of them. He knew that the harder he pushed himself to do it when he didn't want to the worse that it would feel so he just decided to leave it until he was really ready. He could see the other guys getting out of seperate cabs and so he quickly threw down the cigarette in to the outside ashtray, he knew that they hated his habit but they didn't say anything to him about it anymore thankfully. They all greeted each other with hugs and handshakes and walked in to the restaurant, they had booked a table in advance luckily because the place was already pretty full. They were taken to a nice secluded table at the back, perfect for them to be able to hear eachother and catch up. They all ordered their food and the conversation flowed easily, it was like he never spent any time away from any of them to begin with.

"So tonight could be the night we finally set you up with somebody Jazz man," Emmett slapped him on the back and barked out a laugh. Rose shot him a glare which quickly shut him up and made him pull his hand back.

"He doesn't need setting up with anybody, Jazz will find somebody when he's ready Emmett and not when you force some weird straight boy on to him when he's sober." Rose told Emmett sternly. They all laughed at this exchange.

"Oh come on be fair! That only happened once! I didn't realise how drunk the guy was, nor that he was straight. I mean he did seem up for it." Emmett tried to cover himself which only made everybody else laugh harder. Jasper remembered this situation vividly that Emmett had put him in, it was pretty hilarious looking back on it now but at the time it was so utterly mortifying. It probably would have been worse for the guy had he realised what he was trying to do but as it was he was lucky enough to be so far out of it he probably didn't even remember it in the morning. They all had tears almost running down their faces thinking back on the night and it took a few minutes for them all to reign themselves in and even out their breathing again. The waiter brought out their meals not too long after and the conversation went a little quiet while they all dug in to their food, he knew there was a reason they kept coming back to this restaurant and as he dug in to his food he remembered what it was. It was delicious, he didn't think he had ever tasted anything better.

After they were done with their meal they were all trying to decide where they should go when Alice piped up.

"Well, we all have our significant others with us here so i thought it might be fun to take Jazzy to a gay bar! And there just happens to be a pretty successful one just around the corner," Alice informed the others excitedly. The others all quickly agreed that this was a great idea, that at least this way the girls wouldn't have to worry about being hit on, not by guys anyway and it would give Jazz a better chance of meeting somebody. Jazz himself wanted the ground to swallow him up, like it wasn't embarassing enough being the only single one out they would all now being trying to set him up. Probably with guys that were completely wrong for him and looked all butchy and macho. Not at all his type really. He just wanted to meet a nice normal guy, instead of either of the extremes. He could not deal with a guy who was over the top camp, but nor could he deal with a guy too afraid to come out of the closet so he overly butched himself up. He put his head in his hands, this was going to be a long night and it had only just begun.

They all stood to leave and put their share of the money on the table for the waiters, leaving a nice generous tip like they did everytime they visited the place. They decided against cabs if it was only around the corner and made their way out in to the crisp evening which thankfully was at least dry. They walked around the corner, and on the way Jasper lit up a cigarette not caring at all what any of them thought now. He needed it to calm his nerves, he knew that his friends were trying to be supportive and helpful but he didn't want to come across as desperate, getting them to pick guys up for him. When they got outside of the club, he looked up and was hit by glaring neon lights. This place didn't particularly look like a classy joint, oh god it looked awful. He put out his cigarette and they all made their way inside the club, the music was pounding in his ears and the smell of alchohol and cheap cologne hit his nostrils as soon as he was through the door. The heat in the club was stifling, there were so many bodies around he was surprised that there was any oxygen left for anybody else, especially with the way some of them were dancing out on the floor. He could see the mess of limbs grinding and rubbing up against each other, most of them men though there were a few women in dotted amongst them every now and again. He realised that these women were probably here for the same reasons his friends were, or because they were simply out enjoying a night of not getting hit on. Either way they looked like they were really enjoying themselves.

They made their way through the throng of people and gathered themselves around the bar to order their drinks. Whoever got served first always had the honour of buying the first round and it was usually always Rose with the barmen desperate to be near her. This time however it was Jake who was served first, he most definitely had caught the barmans eye. He ordered the drinks and passed them around as they were served to him, he then paid and they made their way over to the seating area choosing a large booth so they could all fit in. Jake looked like he had seen a ghost, he was holding a napkin in his hand. Alice quickly snatched it and had a look at something which was written on it.

"Oh well, Jakey baby grab your jacket you've pulled." Alice laughed out, everyone else joining in. "Here i thought it would be Jasper up for getting laid but who would have guess that Jake was the first to get himself a number." She exclaimed turning over the napkin and seeing the number and name that was written on there. Everybody joined in with laughing, even Jake himself who had shook himself out of his daze.

Jasper looked around at the people who were in the bar, it wouldn't hurt if he just checked to see if there was anybody who so happened to take his fancy. A lot of the men in the place were large and muscled, this was not his type at all, he himself was quite muscular and tall. He knew that he shouldn't really be so shallow, after all one of these guys could be perfect for him but he disregarded them simply because of how buff they were. No, he knew that was wrong but he just couldn't help himself. After all there was only so much you could get to know of somebody while you were in a club, the personalities came later when you met people on a night out it seemed. You couldn't get to know them while you were dancing with them or while you were pretty drunk, this was simply for meeting people and that would always mean that looks were the first thing that caught your fancy. Only over the internet did personality win out first, and he just hadn't gotten to that point yet. He would much rather meet somebody face to face. Just as this thought was running through his mind he locked eyes with somebody a little ways down the bar from where they had been stood, this guy had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen.


	3. Chapter 3

He couldn't tear his eyes away. This guy had messy bronze hair, he could tell from the lights bouncing off of the bar. He looked to be a little shorter than Jasper, and a little less well built though it looked like he was still toned. He was talking to his friends but looking over at Jasper and probably doing the exact same thing that Jasper was, checking him out. This guy looked to be around the same age as Jasper too, a college graduate more than likely. He had on a green shirt which looked perfect with his eyes and hair, and he also wore some dark slacks with, amazingly, converse. Jasper chuckled to himself at this, it seemed that they were in sync at least in the wardrobe department anyway. He wanted to go over to him but he had always been nervous of making the first move, and he was usually much drunker than this if he had to make the first move. But Jasper was afraid that if he didn't talk to the guy then he would probably leave, or end up with somebody else who had been brave enough to introduce themselves. What also made it awkward was the crowd of his friends around him, he was nervous even as it was without having to approach him with his friends. And for all Jasper knew one of them wasn't just a friend, but a boyfriend. Yeah, he thought, he probably has a boyfriend, someone much more attractive than him. Jasper heaved out a sigh and turned his back on the beautiful boy, he just didn't have the courage to start anything up.

He got talking to his friends again and the conversation flowed easily, as well as the conversation the drinks also flowed pretty easily. He could feel the alcohol starting to take control of him, he could feel his head getting fuzzy and his whole body feeling warm. He had always loved the feeling of being drunk, of feeling like you could do anything and having his confidence lifted. He supposed it was because when he was sober he did not have much confidence, and this helped. Although he did remember times when this new found confidence had been a bad thing for him, especially when it came to people coming on to him. Instead of letting them down nicely he had a way of being far too blunt, especially if these people were women who just would not get the hint. I mean what kind of a woman comes on to a guy who blatantly just told them they were gay, I suppose women who didn't have any straight men left to choose from. Jasper stood and clumsily made his way to the bar to buy the next round, as he got to the bar he realised he had picked the spot right next to the beautiful boy who was still stood at the bar. In fact he hadn't seen him move once yet, he hadn't talked to any other guys and he hadn't made his way on to the dance floor. Maybe he was just as shy as Jasper was. Well, screw it, Jasper thought, if there was ever a time he was going to make the first move it was now.

"Hey, I'm Jasper. Can i buy you a drink?" He realised that as far as chat up lines go this was useless and it was so predictable but right now he didn't care. All of his hopes were resting on this boys answer and he hoped he was not about to be disappointed.

"Su-Sure you can, I'll have a JD and coke thanks." The boy accepted his offer. "Oh, and my name's Edward."

Edward smiled at him, he had the cutest smile Jasper had ever seen, he looked so nervous yet so sexy at the same time. He didn't even know that there were people alive this sexy who could pull that look off, he stopped staring and turned and ordered their drinks. He didn't order his friends drinks and take them over to them because he wanted to stand and chat to Edward, get to know him a little hopefully.

"So you out for any particular reason tonight?" Jasper asked him, now worried that that was too much of a personal question for a guy he had only just met.

"Oh not really, just felt like a night out really. How about you?"

"Out celebrating and catching up with some old friends."

"Oh and what are you celebrating tonight? Birthday?"

"Nope, I've just moved back to town and i just got the news that i got a job i applied for, which i start in a couple of weeks. It's at-" Jasper was cut off by Emmett drunkenly stumbling in to him.

"Hey man, just came over to get us some drinks because i see that you were distracted." Emmett waggled his eyebrows suggestively at him and Edward. He was mortified, the ground could have swallowed him up right there and then. But luckily for him Emmett drunkenly stumbled up to the bar and ordered their drinks, he then carried them all on a tray back to the table and winked at Jasper on the way past.

"Sorry about him, he's a little worse for wear." Jasper laughed out nervously.

"Don't worry about it. Do you fancy a dance?" Edward asked looking up at Jasper from beneath his lashes. Jasper nearly let out a groan, but he managed to keep it in and nodded his head gesturing for Edward to lead them to the dance floor. On the way Edward reached his hand out behind him and took hold of Jasper's hand, who did not mind this one bit.

They made their way in to the mess of sweaty bodies grinding up against eachother and started dancing together. Both of the boys were fairly inebriated by this point and so were joining in just like the others with just as much effort, grinding against eachother. Jasper could feel himself getting hard, this boy really was a turn on. They kept this up for about 15 minutes and then went to the bar to get another drink to refresh themselves, while they were there they decided shots were a brilliant idea. They then made their way back to the dance floor even more drunk than they had been previously. There wasn't much time to talk and this proved Jasper's theory on clubs, they were just there for you to meet people mostly through looks and personality came later. Jasper glanced over towards the table his friends had been sitting at to find that they had left, he checked his phone quickly and found a text from Alice telling him they thought he looked a little busy so they didn't want to interrupt but they had decided to call it a night. Rose had also text him telling him to be careful and to text her to let her know he was okay in the morning. After this he put his phone away and didn't look at it again that night. After a few more trips to the bar both of the boys decided that it was time to call it a night and made their way outside.

"So urm.. Which way to yours?" Edward shyly asked, Jasper couldn't help the grin that was spreading across his face.

"Well we could just jump in a cab, I actually live out of town in Forks." Jasper said, nervous that Edward would decide it was too far to go and would go the opposite way to his place.

"Well luckily for you i'm also from Forks so let's go." Edward had already started making his way towards the cabs and he smiled back over his shoulder at Jasper. Jasper couldn't believe his luck, this guy was amazing. He was beautiful, and funny and so far he liked what he had got to know of him AND now he finds out that he also lives in Forks. And Forks in a really tiny place so he couldn't live too far from him, that would make it easy for the future. Then he realised he was getting ahead of himself, maybe Edward wouldn't want to see him after tonight or maybe he would for now he decided to just let himself enjoy whatever this was and deal with the consequences in the morning. He climbed in to a cab after Edward and gave the driver his address, he wrapped an arm around Edward as they sped towards his.


	4. Chapter 4

The cab pulled up at the curb at Jasper's apartment a little while later and both of the boys climbed out after Jasper had handed the driver a few notes. They started to make their way towards the door, Jasper fishing his keys out of his pocket.

"You're gonna have to forgive the state of the place, I've only just moved in." Jasper said a little guiltily. He opened the door and they both walked in through to the living room, Jasper quickly got them both a JD and coke from the kitchen and handed one off to Edward.

"It's a pretty nice place, you living here by yourself?" Edward asked wandering around the room and sipping his drink.

"Yeah, well i only just moved back to Forks. I've just finished college and felt like coming back home, it does feel good to be back again." Jasper smiled across at Edward. Their eyes met and they both put their glasses down on the coffee table. They were both stood mere inches apart facing e achother and as they leaned in their eyes closed, their lips met in the middle and seemed to mould together perfectly. Jasper's tongue gained entrance in to Edward's mouth and they battled for dominance, which Jasper won. They continued to make out and the kisses became more hungry and heated and Jasper began to lead them both through to his bedroom, their shirts coming off on the way. As soon as they got through the door to the bedroom Jasper pushed Edward up against the door and ground in to him, his hands roaming all over his torso as Edward's did the same in return. Edward pushed off from the wall and got them both on to the bed, he reached down and unbuckled the jeans that Jasper was wearing. They had both kicked off their shoes when they entered the apartment so they didn't have to worry about that. Soon enough both boys were on the bed in nothing but their boxers, Jasper was lying between Edward's legs kissing his neck.

Jasper had had flings in the past with guys but nothing had ever felt like this, this was like white hot fire was burning through him and Edward was the cause. There was such electricity between the two boys you could almost see it in the air. Jasper reached down and into Edward's shorts, he grabbed hold of his erection and began stroking in a slow and lazy way, Edward bucked his hips trying to gain more friction but Jasper pinned him to the bed. After a few minutes of teasing Jasper sat up and pulled Edward's boxers all of the way off and took his place once again between his legs. He started to kiss down Edward's chest and towards his navel. Edward put a hand out to stop him.

"I-I'm too close, please." Edward stuttered out, if Jasper didn't know any better he would say that this was the first time Edward had done anything like this, but perhaps it had just been a while. Jasper couldn't argue with that it had been a long time since he had gotten any himself and he was sure as hell looking forward to being inside of Edward so he stood up and rid himself of his own boxers. He opened the night stand and grabbed a condom and some lube. He poured a generous amount of lube on to his hand and stroked his slick fingers against Edward's hole. Edward jumped at the first contact but soon relaxed and Jasper was able to enter one finger very slowly. He moved this finger in and out a little and then started to add a second finger, once this was inside he began scissoring them to prepare Edward a little for what was to come. He could feel how tight and warm Edward felt and Jasper could feel himself becoming more hard if that was even possible, he couldn't believe what this boy did to him. He pulled his fingers from inside of Edward and picked up the condom. Edward took it out of his hands and opened it himself, rolling it over Jasper's painfully hard erection. He quickly lubed himself up and got settled between Edward's legs, the tip of his dick at Edward's hole.

"Are you sure about this?" Jasper asked, Edward was shaking like a leaf, out of fear or nerves he had no idea.

"Yeah, just g-go slow please? It's been a while." Edward said, still looking so nervous. Jasper nodded and started to enter Edward keeping a close eye on him to make sure he was alright. He entered just the tip and he could see Edward's face was scrunched up in discomfort. Wow, he thought, it must have been a really long time since he got laid. He then proceeded to keep pushing in inch by inch, as he adjusted Edward slowly began to relax a little more which made it easier for Jasper. As soon as he was all the way in he came to a halt, waiting for Edward to signal that it was okay for him to move. Edward started to move himself and Jasper took this as his cue, he started to move backwards slowly and then back in. He continued on like this at a slow pace, it almost felt like making love rather than having sex. He had never experienced this kind of sex and he was enjoying it immensely, he couldn't believe how good it felt to be inside of Edward. He started to quicken his pace a little as the pleasure started to intensify, he could feel how close he was getting.

"Ugh, babe, I'm real close." He adjusted his position a little and pushed back in, Edward gave an almighty moan and dug his finger nails in to Jasper's back. He knew he had hit that spot that would drive him crazy. He continued on like this, until Edward stiffened up and came shooting white hot spurts on to his own and Jasper's stomachs. Jasper himself came a minute later deep inside Edward. He was barely holding himself up above Edward, and so quickly rolled to the side to avoid flattening him. He took off the condom and put it in the bin. He then turned and wrapped his arms around Edward, they didn't need to talk, it just felt so comfortable and natural to be in this position. Both of them fell asleep wrapped around eachother within ten minutes.

Jasper awoke in the morning, his head was pounding. He reached out to find the body that he was sure he had fallen asleep wrapped around but all he felt was empty space. He opened his eyes, though his body was screaming at him not to, he shielded his eyes from the sun and looked around the room. There was nobody there. He pulled himself out of the bed and went to inspect the rest of the flat, it looked as if nobody had come back with him at all though he knew for definite he had not dreamed Edward, he could still smell his cologne on his skin. His clothes were gone and there was no sign that he had been there that morning. Obviously Jasper had been a one night stand to him, there was no other explanation for it. He had left as early as was possible and had gone home, leaving Jasper alone in his bed to wonder where the hell he got to. Jasper couldn't deny that he was a little disappointed because he had really hoped that there could be something more this time, something more than just a night of sex. He thought he had felt a connection with Edward that he hadn't felt before with anybody else, or maybe Edward thought this is what Jasper wanted. Just a night of fun. He shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and made his way to his kitchen to prepare coffee, he definitely needed it today. He felt like death warmed up and was pretty sure that wherever Edward was he was feeling the same. He grabbed two painkillers from the bathroom and gulped them down in one with a glass of water. When the coffee was ready he made his way to the front room and sat down on the couch. Well he knew that Edward lived in Forks, perhaps he would just have to do some digging on him and make sure that he ran in to him at some point when they were not both inebriated and hope that Edward would want to see him.


	5. Chapter 5

The last few weeks had flown by for Jasper and he could not find any sign of Edward, nobody seemed to have any idea who he was talking about and he didn't want to particularly be too obvious with his questioning so he decided to give up for now. He had spent the last few weeks seeing his friends and sorting out his apartment, it was now starting to look like somewhere that somebody actually lived, rather than just a mass of boxes sprawled around in each room. It was a sunday, and it was the last day that he would be doing nothing because he started his new job the next day. He was excited, nervous, terrified and elated all at the same time, he didn't know how he had kept all of these emotions inside himself for the last few weeks without blowing up. He was due to go over to Rose and Emmett's soon, they were cooking everybody dinner, this had become a Sunday tradition now. It was nice to have a set time that he could see his friends every week, though he saw them more than that once he knew that once his new job started to get busy he may not have a chance to see them more than this. He would have so much to do, so much planning for lessons and marking work and assigments, and also getting to know each of the kids that he would have. He had already looked up some of the students on the school system that would be in his lesson for the first period, he hadn't had much time to look beyond this class. He realised that as long as the first class went well then he would be okay, his nerves would probably go down and he could get on with the rest of his day with a clear head on his shoulders. He heaved himself up off the couch and proceeded to grab his wallet and his car keys. He made his way in to the kitchen and picked up the wine bottle holder, he hadn't gotten too many bottles but they deserved a nice drink with dinner. He made his way to his car and climbed in, he quickly made his way to Emmett and Rose's and swiftly walked to the front door, it had started to rain. Before he could raise his fist to knock the door swung open and there stood Rose, beautiful as always. He realised that if he wasn't gay then he would definitely be fighting with Emmett over Rose. Though he knew really that nothing would ever be able to keep those two apart.

He pulled her in for a hug as he made his way inside the house, closing the door behind him. The rest of them were already there and he passed on the wine to Emmett to take to the kitchen and uncork. His friends had already gotten the jibes about his one night stand out of the way in the past few weeks, he couldn't help in the end but joining in with their laughter. He realised how ridiculous it must seem, that he had really expected anything different than this guy leaving before he woke up. After all they had both been extremely drunk, they didn't know eachother and were practically strangers. Of course the guy hadn't wanted to stay in the house and wait to see what Jasper was going to be like in the morning, for all Edward knew he could have been a real arsehole who would throw him out as soon as he was awake. He probably thought it was for the best for him to leave, though he couldn't deny it still irked him when he thought about it too much. Jasper, Alice and Jake were all making small talk in the front room, mostly about Jasper's impending first day at his job, when Rose and Emmett shouted them through to the dining room. Jasper noticed that everybody had a glass of wine at their setting except Rose, he thought that was a little strange. He clicked on a second later as to what was likely to be announced that night, and he couldn't help the grin that split his face, it had only been a matter of time. Of course he kept quiet, he didn't want to ruin the surprise. He was a little sad though that his friends were moving on to such big moves, and he was still alone. He knew that graduating and getting his first job in teaching was a big deal but he could not help the jealousy that rose up in him whenever he saw his friends together. That was what he wanted, he wanted somebody who he could call his own and who could have these big life changing events together. He knew that his family and his friends would always be there to celebrate things like him getting his dream job, but it just wasn't the same if there was nobody to cuddle up to at the end of a night and talk about it with. He pulled himself out of these thoughts, after all he was with his friends and he didn't want to ruin their evenings. They were all digging in to the food, which was a lovely roast beef with vegetables and gravy. It was absolutely amazing and he told Rose and Em this to which they waved his compliments away. They all quickly finished their meals and Jasper and Jake stood to clear the table, signalling for everybody else to stay seated. On the way back through to the dining room Jasper grabbed the open bottle of wine and took it to refill everybodies glasses. Just as him and Jake were taking their seats Rose and Em stood up.

"So guys, there was another reason why we invited you over here tonight. We have an announcement to make, we're having a baby!" Rose's grin lit up the entire room and they were all out of their seats congratulating and hugging and shaking hands. He was so happy for them both, he knew that this was what they had always wanted, especially Rose. She would make such a brilliant mother, he just knew it. They all sat and talked a little more, about if it would be a boy or a girl, baby names and lots of other baby related things. It was mostly the girls, having lost the guys about halfway through the conversation. Jasper checked the time, it was getting on for 10 o'clock and he wanted to make sure that he was prepared for his first day tomorrow so he announced that he would have to get going. He stood and hugged Rose once more, shaking Emmett's hand and then made his way to his other two friends and did the same. He told them all to stay in the dining room, he could see himself out and that is how he left them still talking about babies. He had a feeling that the guys would make up some excuse to leave the room soon enough, probably ending up on Emmett's xbox.

He was so glad when he got home, the stress of the next day was starting to get to him and he could do with a nice shower before getting in to bed. After this he made sure that his trousers and shirt were ready for the next day, he had decided against a full suit deciding that it would be much too formal for a normal school day. He then climbed in to bed, it took him a good hour to fall asleep and when he did he was unsettled and the sleep was broken. He was nervous about starting a new chapter in his life, but he was excited for what the morning could bring.


	6. Chapter 6

Jasper woke to his alarm sounding, it was 6am and he was so tired, he hadn't been able to sleep properly all night worrying about this morning. He realised he should have just relaxed, at least then he would have been able to face the morning after a full nights sleep rather than the broken sleep he had had. If you could even call it sleep at all. He got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, turning on his coffee machine. He was definitely going to need as much of this as he could get this morning. He popped some bread in to the toaster and waited for either of the machines, the coffee machine was the first to give a beep and he poured himself a cup. He added some sugar and milk and sat at the tiny breakfast bar in the kitchen, just big enough for two. Unfortunately for Jasper it was only him who had used it so far. He took a few sips of the coffee until the toast popped up, he quickly buttered it and ate his breakfast in the quiet. He still wasn't quite used to living alone, it was always so quiet and that was definitely something he had quite enjoyed after the volume of living in shared accomodation at college. After he had finished his breakfast he made his way to his bedroom and proceeded to get dressed, when he had he then went to the bathroom to put the finishing touches to his appearence. He did his hair and sprayed on some cologne, he then made his way to the front room to retrieve his satchel. He picked it up and put on his shoes and jacket, he checked himself out once more in the mirror and when he was sure that he looked okay he made his way out of the door and to his car. He threw his things on to the passenger seat and climbed in, the drive to the high school was of no consequence, there wasn't really even anybody around at this time. He pulled in to the teachers parking lot and found a space quickly, he sat in his car for a few minutes gathering his thoughts and evening out his breathing, he hadn't realised quite how nervous he was.

As he made his way to the front of the school he had remembered what it had felt like on his graduation day, he was so glad to be getting away from the place. He couldn't believe that now, only 4 short years later, he was so happy to be walking back in. He made his way to his classroom, he had been a week earlier for his induction. Basically they had shown him around the school, though everything was as he remembered it. They then showed him where his classroom would be and proceeded to give him a set of keys for the building and his i.d badge. He also recieved his timetable that day, so that he could see what classes he would have when and also when his free periods would be for extra help for students or lesson planning. Whatever he chose to do with his time really, as long as it was work related they had seemed pretty cool about it. He stood behind his new desk in the front of his new classroom and that was when the nerves seemed to hit him the worse, of course he had done training but it just hadn't felt like this. He had always had people around him, marking him and judging him or helping him. Now it was time for him to do it all on his own, he couldn't afford to be making any big mistakes now that he was in it for real. It felt like the first time you take your training wheels off a bike, and you have to keep yourself up all by yourself. He had been told by so many of his professors and his ex teachers and new colleagues that the first lesson was always the worse, as long as you got through this alright then everything else would be smooth sailing. He hoped that they were right. He was more nervous about teaching the seniors, because he wasn't too far from their age and he hoped that he could win them round. If not then it was likely that they would eat him alive. He had decided on a firm but fair approach with the students, so long as nobody went over his boundaries then all would be well in his classroom. He shook himself out of his pit of worry and started making his preparations for his first class, he decided this would be a much better use of his time and much more likely to ensure that he had a good first lesson. Luckily he also had the tutor time to prepare because he hadn't been given a group, he was glad of this because it gave him more time to gather his wits about him. His first class were freshman and so hopefully not too hard to handle and pretty easy to influence in to the right behaviour.

The bell rung for first period and all of a sudden there were students coming through the door and in to the classroom. A few of them were hanging about the door, unsure of what to do or where to sit.

"Come on in guys, you can sit wherever you like for now. If in a few weeks time this is proving to be far too unproductive then i will arrange for everybody to be put in to a seating plan, but hopefully i can trust you guys to act like the young adults you are." Jasper raised his voice so that everybody could hear him, he hated to raise his voice but he realised he would have to get used to talking at louder than normal volume to be heard across a classroom. After they had all sauntered in and taken their seats he started to reel off the speech he had prepared.

"Hello class, my name is Mr Hale and I will be your history teacher for this year at least. I realised that this is your first year, and we have that in common because this is the first year that i will be a teacher at this school. Now i don't mind you sitting with your friends and talking a little while you're doing work that i set, but there are a few rules in my classroom that you will all be following. There is no talking when i am, this is not only counter productive to learning but it is very rude, I do not allow bad manners in my classroom. The noise level must be kept to a low, even when you are doing your work and chatting, i do not want any complaints that i keep a loud classroom. The other rules you will learn along the way, but most of all i want you to enjoy learning this subject as much as i enjoy teaching it. If you are struggling to keep up don't keep quiet about it, come and see me if you're too shy to tell me in front of the whole class. Right now we are going to be looking at US History, the first topic will be the American Civil War."

After this the class went by fairly quickly and he had little trouble with the students, some of them were a little chatty and a little unsettled but he could hardly blame them. This was their first day of high school and he was pretty sure that they would settle pretty quickly in to a routine. Either way there was nobody that stuck out as real trouble, and he hadn't even noticed anybody that would have to be split up really. He noticed on his timetable that the next class he had where seniors, he had gotten through the first class okay and so he was sure that he could also do it with the next class. He just had to be firm but fair, give them the talk that he had given the last class and hope that they responded well to it. They all started to filter in through the door, he noticed that these all looked a lot older than the last bunch, almost his age actually. He couldn't really argue with that because they were nearly his age. He told them all that they could sit where they wanted for now, he turned his back to organise his notes ready to speak to the class. He turned back around and scanned his eyes through the class, he hadn't looked any of these kids up and he just hoped that the names would stick in his head pretty quickly. He was looking through the room, when suddenly he was met with a pair of green eyes. A pair of green eyes that he recognised instantly, he was momentarily stuck in place as the eyes also seemed to register who he was. He knew in that moment why he wasn't able to find Edward in this town, it was because he had been looking for the wrong age group. Because looking across at him from a table at the back of his classroom was Edward, it seemed that his one night fling was a high school student.


	7. Chapter 7

Oh my god, he couldn't believe what he was seeing and he was so afraid that he was going to hyperventilate at the front of the class. He quickly tore his eyes away from Edward's and turned his back on the class, pretending that he was looking for the register. He turned back around after he had managed to get himself and his breathing under control. He avoided looking at that area of the room as he gave the prepared speech once again to this class, they all seemed to take it in pretty well and a couple of them even put their hands up to welcome him to the school. Yes, this seemed like it was a very nice class. He took the register, almost fumbling over the name Edward Cullen. That had to be him, it was the only Edward on the register and he heard the quiet reply of 'present.' He carried on with the lesson that he had planned out, he didn't think he had ever wanted the ground to open up and swallow him any more than this. If they found out that he had sex with a high school student he would be fired, well not just fired he would probably also be arrested and sent to jail. He knew that the age of consent was 16 but that didn't make him feel any better about the situation, it would be an abuse of trust whether or not he had known this was to become one of his students. How on earth had they even let him in the club? He realised he was being irrational, of course they hadn't realised he was too young, even Jasper hadn't realised that. He carried on with the lesson and managed to get them all working but really he was working on autopilot, he had no idea what he was going to do about this situation. He didn't want to speak to Edward right now, not with the mind set that he was in. He had never been so mad about anything in his life and he had a feeling he would end up saying something he regretted later on. He knew why he was really angry, not just because Edward hadn't told him his age, he was angry because he had really liked him. He had hoped that they could get to know each other better and something could come of it, well he thought, that isn't going to happen now. He was so relieved when the bell rang out and he could be alone with his thoughts, he didn't even acknowledge Edward as he left the classroom and he ensured that he also left at the same time as the kids so that he had no chance to stay behind to talk to him.

He quickly made his way to the staff room, it was morning break and he needed another coffee already to get through the day. He was surrounded in the staff room by other teachers asking how his first couple of classes went and how he was finding the kids. He answered all of their questions, though he really wanted to just run back to his classroom and be left alone with his thoughts. He managed to worm his way out of the throng with his coffee in hand 10 minutes after he had first entered the room. He got back to his classroom and sat at his desk, he placed his head in his hands and heaved out a sigh. Why couldn't anything ever work out for him the way that it was supposed to? He just didn't know why fate wanted to play this cruel trick on him right now, this was his dream job and he may well have jeapordised it before he had even started it. He rubbed at his tired eyes and took a sip of his coffee, luckily for him the next period was a free one and he had a chance to collect his thoughts and he also took a look at the work from the first two classes. There was some promising looking stuff already. Then he came to Edward's book and he took a look, he seemed really passionate about the subject and he had already written a lot more than most of the other students. He saw scrawled in to a corner of the page one word, sorry. Jasper couldn't believe it, Edward was actually feeling guilty over what had happened. Well, so he should Jasper thought, he was the one who hadn't been honest about himself. Though if Jasper thought about it, he hadn't really asked him any questions about his age, or what he did or anything about himself really so he supposed that he could lay some of the blame at his own feet. Though a 17 year old boy should not be in a club on a weekend drinking alcohol and picking up men, especially not man who was to become his new teacher. Not that Edward had known this, Emmett the idiot had interrupted Jasper before he could tell Edward where his new job was. If he hadn't been interrupted he was sure that Edward would have made some excuse to leave, and this could have simply ended in Jasper admonishing Edward for being out at all and perhaps both of them being a little embrassed that they had flirted with each other in the bar.

He had decided what he was going to do about the whole situation, he was going to avoid it. After all why did he have to confront Edward at all when he was sorry it had ever happened, perhaps they wouldn't have to speak of it at all. Yes, Jasper decided, avoidance was definitely the best way to deal with it. At least this way there was no chance that Jasper would say something to annoy Edward which would result in him going to the principal and Jasper getting fired for sleeping with a student. Technically he had been in the employment of the high school when he had had the fling with Edward, though he had no clue that Edward was a high school student. He doubted that this would make any difference at all, especially not if Edward told his parents or something. Jasper doubted that he was that type of person, but then he barely knew him at all. He hoped that he wasn't about to ruin Jasper's life, and for the time being Jasper decided that he would ignore him completely other than if he had to talk to him for any reason because of his class. Yes, that would be best.

Jasper realised that this was completely irrational behaviour, and it was very unlikely that he would just be able to completely ignore him, besides in his classroom. He still remembered the effect that Edward had had on him, and the electricity he felt pulsing through him when they were together. He could see now why Edward had left in the morning, probably too afraid of whatever guy he picked up figuring out his actual age. He was actually quite pleased about this, just because it meant that it wasn't anything in particular about Jasper that had made him leave. But then if he left because of his age and the fact he was a high school student then it was obvious he knew what he was doing was completely wrong. Jasper realised the more he thought about it, the more he would just simply find reasons to blame either one of them and that was no way to spend a day. It would just have to be forgotten and he would have to have a strictly student teacher relationship with Edward, and that was the only way he could see that this could work. If Edward brought it up with him he would simply have to tell him that it was in the past and they couldn't talk about it, that he was his teacher and it would be completely inappropriate to discuss it any further. Yes, Jasper thought, this is just how it has to be.


	8. Chapter 8

Jasper got through the rest of his first day without a blip and he felt quite happy as the day ended that it had been a success. Other than the minor Edward blip Jasper had had a great day and he enjoyed teaching all of his classes, luckily he hadn't encountered one he didn't like yet. He checked out his timetable and saw that he had Edward's class a few times a week, he realised this was probably because they were seniors. He packed up his things in to his satchel and made his way out to his car, he drove himself home and collapsed on to the sofa when he got there. He quickly checked his phone and saw that he had messages from his family and his friends all asking how he had done on his first day. He quickly texted out a genetic reply to all of them but one and pressed send, he then rang the one person who he could talk to about all of this stuff with Edward.

"Hey Ally, any chance you wanna pop round for a take out tonight and a catch up? I kinda need to talk to you and get some advice." Jasper asked, Alice agreed that she would be round in about an hour and they would have dinner and a chat.

Jasper spent the hour getting a shower and getting changed out of his formal clothes and in to his sweats and a tee. Exactly an hour later Alice strolled through his door, she never did seem to get the hang of knocking. Not even after she walked in on him in college with a guy who he was seeing, now that had been embarassing. This is why he knew he could talk to Alice and she wouldn't judge him, and she definitely would not tell anybody else. Least of all Emmett, he was pretty sure he would die of mortification if Emmett found out. She plopped herself down on the sofa and they got through all of the small talk and ordered dinner, they decided on pizza.

"Right come on boyo, out with it, I know there's something bothering you." Alice sat looking up at him expectently.

"Okay. Well. It's kinda hard to know where to start so i might just have to get it out. I found Edward, you know the one night thing, he's a student in one of my history classes, I found out when he walked in to my classroom and plonked himself in a seat pretty much a metre from me. How I didn't freak out and run from the school i will never be able to figure out, and i just have absolutely no idea what to do about it other than avoid and forget really. I mean don't you think that's the best thing to do? We never really knew eachother, and there's no point in bringing it up really because nothing can be done to change it now, you know?" Jasper rambled all of this out, so embarassed that he had to come clean about something like this to anyone at all. But the stress of holding it in and trying to figure out what to do about it was eating him up inside and he just had to get it all out.

"Woah, woah slow down! So the guy is in your class? How old is he exactly first off?"

"He's 17 i'm guessing, he's a senior so he's either 17 or 18."

"Well then at least that makes him legal, would have been a complete nightmare if he had been a junior or something. So did he recognise you? I mean you did say that you both had fairly a lot to drink that night and maybe he didn't remember you at all, no offence or anything Jazz."

"No he definitely remembered me, i could see it in his eyes straight away. Plus when i looked through his history book after his lesson he had written sorry really small in the corner of one of the pages, i think he meant that for me."

"Oh dear, well that is a bit of a predicament Jazz i gotta say. And i also gotta say, sorry for this, but it's also quite hilarious. Or it would be if you didn't look so terrified right now. Well it seems to me that he is embarassed that he did this to you, embarassed that it happened. So your avoidance and forget thing may actually work because it doesn't seem like he is going to bring it up any time soon, and if he does you can just tell him how it's inappropriate for you two to talk about it now that you're his teacher. I mean you obviously can't avoid the boy himself, you're still his teacher and you still gotta help him if he needs it, but you can avoid discussing or mentioning what happened."

"Thank god you thought that to, i thought that would probably be the best thing for it too but i just needed to get a second opinion. It's been eating at me all day."

"Well, i mean, this can work Jazz but only if you want it to."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! I love this job, i want to keep it for a long time." Jazz could feel himself getting angry.

"Calm down Jazz, I didn't mean anything by it but you must see where i am coming from. The last few weeks you have mentioned this guy, and the connection that you two had. I mean you told me it had been the best sex you have ever had. I just don't want you to do anything silly."

Jasper could see the concern written all over her face, she really did care about him and just wanted what was best. And it's not like this thought hadn't occurred to him either. He had talked about Edward a lot and when it first happened he was so desperate to be able to find this guy, but he supposed now he would just have to put it behind him. Whether or not they really did have a connection had become completely irrelevant, there was no way he could do anything about it without risking the one thing he had studied for for years.

"Okay I'm sorry Ally, I know i got a bit defensive there, sorry for snapping. It's just that I did think about this earlier, but there is no way of going about this without jeapordising everything i have worked so hard for. It took me years to get to this point and there is no way that i want to risk losing any of it."

Just as he was talking about this another thought occurred to him that had him gasping in horror, he could not believe that he hadn't thought about this before now.

"Oh my god, Ally i think he might have been a virgin. I hope against hope that he wasn't but i guess i'll never know because i sure as hell am not going to ask him."

Just then the doorbell rang and Jasper went to get the food, he paid the guy at the door and took the food in to the living room. They ate their food and chatted some more, avoiding completely the subject of Edward anymore that evening, Jasper didn't think he had the strength to discuss with anybody the idea that he may have been a virgin before that night. Though if Jasper was honest the thought of him kept popping up in his mind at random intervals, he just hoped that wasn't his first time. No body should lose their virginity to somebody they barely knew who they had picked up in a bar. It got quite late and Alice decided that it was time for her to take her leave, or else she would not get up for work in the morning and neither would he. He made a joke that it might be preferable to actually facing Edward. After she had left he cleared up the pizza boxes and threw them in the bin, he then proceeded to walk through to the bedroom and climbed in to his bed. He was nervous about seeing Edward again the next day, but felt a little better now that he had talked it out with somebody else. The last thought before he drifted off to sleep was of Edward and if he had thought any more about Jasper.


	9. Chapter 9

Jasper got up the next day with a bit more of a positive attitude about what he was going to do, he was going to avoid and ignore. He had decided that rather than completely avoiding Edward he would just avoid the topic, he had to act professional and if Edward needed help with his work then he must be there for him just as Alice had said. There was no getting around that part, he had to do his job other wise other students would begin to notice something odd about his behaviour. He got up and dressed in record time, unfortunatly while pondering on these thoughts he had been in bed a little late. He decided to grab a coffee from a cafe today on the way to work and off he set with his satchel in hand. He pulled up outside of the cafe and quickly walked inside, he was hit instantly by the warm comforting smell. He had always loved coming here, it was a hang out for him and his friends in their younger years when they needed somewhere to meet up. He made his way to the front and ordered his coffee, he also ordered a croissant to go because he knew that he would have to eat something to keep him going until lunch. They were quick with his order and he was exiting the shop in no time, unfortunately he wasn't watching where he was going and he walked smack bang in to somebody. The coffee he was holding fell from his hands, luckily it didn't hit him or the other person on the way down. He lifted his head to apologise and was met with those green eyes that where beginning to dominate his mind, there in front of him stood Edward with a stunned expression on his face.

"Urm, sorry, I wasn't really watching where i was going." Jasper quickly said, and made to walk to his car. There was no way that coffee was that important that he would risk spending time alone with Edward. He quickly got in to his car and sped off towards the high school, it seemed that he just couldn't escape this ridiculous situation he found himself in. He got to the school and made his way to his classroom, cursing his bad luck all the way. He settled himself down in his seat and opened up the bag that held his croissant, he may have lost his coffee but at least he had food to keep his energy up. Just as he was taking the first bite the door to his classroom opened and in strolled Edward, he must have looked like a deer caught in headlights. He couldn't believe that Edward actually had the front to just walk in bold as brass, like nothing had ever occurred between the two of them, okay maybe he was letting the past control the present a bit too much. He remembered his avoid and forget technique and smoothed out his expression in to one of questioning.

"What are you doing here so early? Class doesn't start for another 40 minutes." Jasper quickly bit out, he was looking towards the door praying for somebody to come in and interrupt the conversation.

"Oh well you left so quickly this morning you forgot to get another coffee, i thought you might need one." Edward replied, laying a cup on his desk in front of him. Jasper couldn't help but think that this was a sweet gesture, that a teenager would come in to the school so early just because he had forgotten his coffee. But then he thought this wasn't just any teenager, this was Edward whom he happened to have shared one night with. Edward was chewing his lip and looked like he had something really important on his mind.

"Look, I -"

"Please don't." Jasper cut Edward off before he had a chance to get started. "We both know what happened was a mistake, it should not have happened. Had i known that you would be my student in a few weeks time there is not a chance it would have happened. We shouldn't even be discussing this, especially not in the school. This is the last time we can talk about anything regarding that night, it is highly inappropriate now and you must realise that. I don't mean to sound cruel but i've worked far too hard to get myself in to this position, I would really appreciate if we could keep this between us. But this has to be the last time we mention it at all."

Jasper was surprised at himself that he had found the strength to actually say anything about that night to Edward, especially not something so clear cut and logical. He gave himself a pat on the back and decided he would have to inform Alice of how well he had actually done to refuse talking about the subject. His voice had broken up a little at the end of the sentence he must admit, he had just realised how much he had wanted him and Edward to have a chance at something a little more than a one night fling. He looked up at Edward to see his reaction, and he was sure those beautiful green eyes had become a little watery. Oh god no, Jasper thought, please don't let him start crying, he had no idea what to do when people started to cry in front of him. He didn't know if he would be able to keep up this professional distance stance if he had started to cry and he was thankful when Edward started speaking, in a much stronger voice than he was probably feeling right now.

"I understand, but i just want you to know that i didn't leave that morning because of you, i left because i was embarassed. I couldn't believe i did what i did without telling you how old i was or anything. I know the way i went about it was wrong, but i will never regret that night nor will i ever call it a mistake. It was actually the best night of my life, and i was hoping that it had meant something a bit more to you as well than just something that could be forgotten so easily. And if you want to continue fooling yourself that we can just forget about it then that's fine, i'll play along. But we both know that there was something there between us that night, something that ignoring what happened isn't really going to get rid of and that something is still there now. But whatever, Sir." Edward put a lot of emphasis on this word. "We can just pretend everything is all good and we're a normal student and teacher."

With that said Edward walked out of the classroom, slamming the door behind him. Oh no, Jasper couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that he had upset him that much. He looked so wounded and hurt that it was making Jasper question whether it really was the right thing to do about it. He didn't know if he should stay or if he should go after him or anything. He put his head in his hands, he could feel a migraine coming on.


	10. Chapter 10

That day when Edward walked in to his class he completely avoided looking in Jasper's direction, even when he was giving his lecture on the days topic he only looked up from his notes when he had to look at the powerpoint slides. When he did look up Jasper could see his eyes looked a little red around the edges and they were so sad. The guilt hit him like a brick wall, he couldn't believe he had done anything to make those beautiful green eyes cry, he didn't remember ever feeling this bad over anybody. He got through the lesson and he almost called to Edward to stay at the end but he realised that this could only make things worse, there was nothing he could say that would make Edward feel better. He was only likely to upset him more, maybe this was just unavoidable. Well, Jasper thought, unavoidable only if he didn't want to risk his job. Edward's words from that morning had been eating at him, he knew that he was right. There was definitely something there between them, it was undeniable. He had never met anybody like Edward and he doubted that he would ever feel that intense connection again. Maybe it was worth risking everything for, more important than a job. But if he waited until Edward had graduated then he wouldn't have to give up either, he could have both. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of these thoughts. No, there was no point in letting himself think about the possibility, these kind of thoughts could get him sacked let alone doing anything about it. He could feel the conflict inside himself, and he knew that he wanted to give up now and go after Edward and tell him that they could be together. He pushed these thoughts from his mind as his next class was coming in to the room, he had to concentrate on the rest of his classes.

At the end of the day he was packing up all his notes and the work he had to mark that night, there was quite a pile. He was hoping that he was getting through to some of the students and they were enjoying the subject, a lot of them looked like they were concentrating when they were in his class. Though some of the girls just seemed to giggle and whisper behind their hands, he was afraid of this happening. Yet the one person he didn't mind ogling him was now completely refusing to look at him. With a sigh he heaved up his bag and made his way out to his car, he desperately wanted to ring Alice and speak to her about all of this but he didn't want to have to keep running to her and offloading. He knew that it wasn't fair to her, he shouldn't have to keep unloading all over her. He was heaving his bag and all of the books to his car, he hadn't really thought about how heavy all of this would be and he could feel the box of books beginning to slip from his hands and his bag coming off his shoulder. He couldn't let the bag fall, his laptop was in the bag and he couldn't let that break, it had all of his lesson plans and notes on it. Then there was another pair of hands over his helping him to lift his heavy burden. He looked up and was met by Edward in front of him. It seemed that whatever happened he just kept appearing out of nowhere, he was happy and sad all at once about this. He could feel the sparks shooting through where there hands met and he wanted to throw the box and push Edward up against the opposite wall but he knew he couldnt.

"Thanks, they were just about to slip." That was the best Jasper could come up with, he didn't know what else to say.

"It's okay, just pass them over and i'll help you out to your car." Edward replied but Jasper couldn't seem to pull his hands away. He loved being able to feel his skin again, in that moment they were the only two people who existed. And just like that he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep away from him. With some effort he pulled his hands back and started to walk in the direction of his car, scrambling for something to say to Edward.

"So how are you enjoying the class so far then?"

"Yeah i really like it, but then i've always been pretty interested in history. It's interesting to know how much a country can change, and so can attitudes."

Jasper nodded his head along, that was exactly why he had taken an interest in history and why he had decided he wanted to pursue it as a career. He loved the idea that he could spark some enthuisiasm from his students for the subject just as his teachers had done for him.

"Well i'm glad to know then that i definitely have one student who won't be falling asleep on me, well at least not because of the subject." Both of them laughed at that, but speaking of falling asleep on him Jasper's mind wandered back to that night. The way Edward had looked sleeping next to him and he had to suppress a groan, he wanted that again so badly. They got to his car and he quickly opened the boot and dumped all of the stuff in there. He turned to Edward to thank him and was pushed back up against the car and then there were hungry lips on his own and he found himself kissing back. He couldn't deny this feeling any longer, he needed this and he greedily accepted everything that Edward had to offer. After a few moments he remembered where he was, remembered that there would be other teachers making their way to their cars and home. He pushed Edward away.

"Stop -"

"Don't do this again, stop fighting it."

"I'm not but i can't do this here, we're in full view of everybody and i really would like to keep my job." Jasper explained

"Oh right, yeah sorry i didn't really think about the location. We obviously need to talk, we can't just keep letting each other down and then building each other back up again. It will drive us both insane. Can i come over to yours, just to talk?" Edward clarified, peering up at Jasper through his lashes.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if it's such a good idea for us to be alone together."

"Look, i get where you're coming from. But we need some privacy for the conversation that has to take place, and we can't talk about it at school just in case somebody overhears. So this is really the only option, i'll be careful and make sure nobody sees me."

"Okay, okay. But we have to be really careful about this, there's a lot at stake."

They agreed to meet at Jasper's on friday night, just in case this talk took a long time. Edward would come over for dinner, that way his parents would believe he had just gone over to a friends house. It almost felt like a date to Jasper but he didn't let himself dwell too long about this, it was simply a talk over dinner. They couldn't do it on a school night because Jasper had so much work to do and Edward wouldn't be able to be out very late, plus he had homework to complete. They both agreed that until they talked it over they would simply act like another student and teacher, completely normal to the outside world. Jasper still wasn't sure if letting Edward come over to his was such a smart idea but then he realised that there was no other option, Edward really did think beyond his years sometimes.


	11. Chapter 11

Friday night rolled around quickly and Jasper had enjoyed the week. Jasper had enjoyed not having the stress and the worry about Edward hanging over his head, it was nice to know that it would all be decided on the Friday night. Jasper had no idea what he wanted to say to Edward, didn't know what the outcome of this talk could be. But he couldn't imagine that the goal would end up being to completely disregard their feelings and ignore each other. He had thought about bringing up the option of waiting until graduation for them to try anything, maybe Edward would agree that this was a good idea. If they went for this it would mean that they wouldn't have to be worrying and stressed about having to try and ignore eachother, they would both know that as soon as Edward had graduated they could try and make it work. He had found himself wondering about what it could be like for them, Edward off to college. This was the one downfall in the plan, how could they be together if Edward wasn't actually around. Jasper had decided to cook a nice bolognese for dinner that night, he was so nervous. It felt like a first date, and he hadn't had one of them in a very long time. He had barely ever had a boyfriend, preferring instead up until this point to have meaningless one night flings or a friend with benefits situation. He had never met anybody like Edward though, he made him feel like he wanted something more. As he was musing on these thoughts there was a knock at the door, he left the bolognese just bubbling and went to let Edward in.

He opened the door and Edward was stood there, in the exact outfit he had worn the first night that he had met him. He was dumbstruck, he looked just as good as he had that night and he swallowed back the moan that he felt rising up in him. He moved to a side to allow Edward to come past him, he took off his shoes and they both made their way to the kitchen. The food was ready so Jasper quickly dished it up and they settled down across from one another, he had poured them both a glass of wine without thinking.

"Sorry, i didn't think." Jasper went to pick up the glass but Edward got to it first.

"It's fine, one little glass won't hurt me, plus i think i could use a little bit of liquid courage." Edward joked.

"Okay, but only one." Jasper agreed shaking his head at Edward, he look up across the table and wished that Edward was older, he wished that they could do this every night. They quietly ate dinner, enjoying this time together for now until they knew that they had to have the inevitable talk and decide where this could go. They finished up their meal and Edward helped Jasper to clear the table. They both made their way in to the living room and sat on the couch, Jasper could feel the heat between them and realised too late that they were sat far too close.

"Right, we need to decide what to do about these feelings between us. I'm not going to deny that there is something there, something that i have never felt before. I've not been in a serious relationship and i don't know how well i would do at it, i would probably do things to mess it up to be fair. But i don't think we could take this risk right now, i really enjoy my job and i don't want something like a relationship to throw you off balance in your last year of school. Plus there's college to think about, once you move away you will probably meet other people and you might find somebody your own age who you want more."

"I know myself pretty well, and i don't think i will find anybody else who i feel for like this. Like you said there is something there, something big. I know what you mean though by we both have so many things to think about this year, you have your first year teaching and i have my last year of school. Maybe for now we could concentrate on that but agree to give things a try after graduation? I mean if you're willing to wait that is, if you're not i completely understand and i won't push the topic with you if that's what you want. Graduation might be the best way forward though, i don't want you to risk losing you job. I know how much it means to you and how hard you have worked for it, but i also know that i really like you and you like me too."

"Okay so we agree that we both want to give it a try at the end of the school year, after you have graduated and are no longer my student? And of course i'm willing to wait for you, like i said i've never felt this way before about anybody. But there is the topic of college and everything really that we will have to talk about later on, and there are some other things to talk about too. But it would be nice if we could get to know eachother more before graduation too."

"I agree it would be nice to get to know eachother, would you feel comfortable at all letting me come around here every now and again? No funny business but we could hang out and get to know eachother. I know there is a little bit of a risk still but there really isn't anything that can be done about that. But yes i think getting to know each other and waiting for graduation would be a good idea over all. Just being students and friends is enough for now."

"I would be willing to do that, but we have to be so careful. We can't let anybody know about it though, it'll have to just be between us." Jasper smiled at Edward, glad that they had finally come to an agreement and he was looking forward to the meeting with Jasper to get to know him a little more. He knew there was still a little part of him that was gnawing at him, still feeling bad about having a relationship with a student, but then again really like Edward said it was a friendship only for now. So technically they were doing nothin wrong, they just had to make sure that they could keep their hands to themselves for the time being. It was going to be hard but if they ended up together then the struggle would defininately be worth it. They spent the rest of the evening getting to know eachother a little better, they spoke about Jasper's years in college and the history topics he studied. Jasper thought that Edward would become bored with this topic but he just seemed more intrigued the more they spoke about it. He was happy that he had found somebody who loved learning about history just as much as he did, who didn't get bored with him when he started speaking about it. Edward really was beyond his years, and he really enjoyed that about him. It got pretty late and they decided that it was time Edward got home, he did sugget staying the night cheekily but they both knew where that would no doubt lead them and agreed it was not a good idea. Jasper gave Edward a lift home and they left each other much happier and less stressed than they had been in a while.


	12. Chapter 12

The next few weeks were wonderful, Jasper really enjoyed his teaching and he was also getting to know Edward really well. The more he got to know him, the more he knew that he was just right for Jasper. They had all of the same interests and they enjoyed the same books and movies, he really couldn't believe just how well suited they were. Jasper knew that they were probably hanging out a bit more than they should be, they had initially agreed once every two weeks was safe but it was becoming a friday or saturday night ritual once a week to hang out. They would usually have dinner, quite often a take out, and watch a movie or just talk about everything really. Edward had told Jasper all about his life at home, about what his parents were like with him. He was an only child and his parents seemed to focus all of their energy on him, hoping that he would do well in school and then go on to college. They knew that he was gay, he had come out to them a few months earlier and they had taken it surprisingly well. They had taken it very well, though they had made him promise no matter what that he would give them grandchildren, he could still adopt after all.

Edward confessed that he wanted to go to college to study music, he was such a talented pianist and you could see the enjoyment written all over his face when he played. He spoke so animatedly about it, just like Jasper did with History. He helped Edward to write some of his applications to his colleges, knowing what they were looking for.

The problem was that the more time they spent with each other the closer that Jasper wanted to be with him. He wanted to be able to cuddle up to him on the couch, and not have to worry that it was wrong. He knew that Edward was feeling that pull as well, they had had so many moments when they thought that they would both throw caution to the wind. But some how they had managed to reel themselves back in, keeping their hands to themselves but not their thoughts. It was on one of these nights, they were enjoying each others company and laughing along with the film they were watching when there was a knock at the door and then they heard it opening. They looked over at eachother equal looks of shock on their faces. Before Jasper could get up Rose had bounded in to the room.

"Hey Jazzy, why haven't you-" Rose stopped in shock mid sentence, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked from Edward to Jasper and was momentarily stunned. Of course Alice had told Rose who Jasper's mystery one night stand man was, she thought that it would be better if more people knew and could be there for him. But right at this second he was wishing that Rose didn't know anything, he hadn't told anybody that he had been spending time alone with Edward.

"Well now i can see why you have been avoiding everybody. Just didn't want to let us know what you were doing did you? How could you be so stupid Jazz, he's only 17 and he's one of your students. You're going to get caught, people always do and then you will be one of those teachers they splash across the newspapers because they were sleeping with one of their students. Everything you've worked for will have been for nothing!" Rose was definintely on one, she was pissed and she didn't care who knew it. Jasper was so embarassed, he couldn't believe that she had the audacity to yell at him in front of Edward in his own home. He stood up face to face with her.

"What in the hell business is it of yours who i hang out with? And you shouldn't just be letting yourself in to my apartment, you really need to learn boundaries. If i wanted your advice on any of this i would have asked for it, as it was i didn't even tell you about it Alice did, i'm now wishing she hadn't bothered. And for your information we're not sleeping together, we're just getting to know each other a little there's nothing going on here. And like you said it's everything i have worked for, I as in me, not you. If you can't be supportive then keep out of my business." He was shouting at Rose, he had never been so angry with any of his friends before. He knew that this was Rose's way of being concerned and looking out for him but right now her way of doing things was just making him irate. He couldn't believe she dared to humiliate him like this, it wasn't her place to tell him what to do with his life, and besides nobody would know about the arrangement at all if she had just knocked and waited for him to open the door.

"Well if that's how you feel then fine. You ruin your life Jazz, but don't think that i'll be helping you to pick up the pieces. It's so ridiculously wrong and you know it, that's why you're keeping it such a big secret even from your closest friends. Good luck!" With that said Rose turned on her heel and stormed out of the house, Jasper was still trying to get his breathing under control as his rage took a hold of him.

"I'm so sorry about her, she just doesn't think." Jasper turned to Edward, hoping that he wouldn't be frightened away because of her.

"It's okay, i can see she's just trying to protect you. But like you said it's your life, and she should just be there to support you in your decisions rather than trying to get you to live your life like she thinks you should. Besides if she got what she wanted then i wouldn't ever get to spend any time with you." Edward answered, again Jasper had that feeling Edward was so beyond his years it was frightening. He knew that Rose was right and that he was risking everything, but he had already been through this in his head and he wouldn't have been happy if he had completely ignored the feelings between them. He felt that he was doing the right thing for him and he wouldn't apologise for that, no matter how wrong that Rose felt it was.

He collapsed on to the couch, Edward put an arm around him to try and comfort him. It was obvious that his friend being so unsupportive was hurting Jasper, both of the boys realised that this was the first real physical contact they had had since the day Edward helped Jasper with his books. Their eyes locked on to eachothers and they could feel themselves getting closer, inching closer, their lips mere millimetres apart.


	13. Chapter 13

Jasper's brain was screaming at him to stop and he knew what he was doing was just proving Rose right. They had agreed that nothing like this would happen until after graduation. But though he knew all of this he just couldn't deny that pull, this had been building inside both of them for the past few weeks. He knew then that the time spent alone had been such a bad idea, they never should have given in to this, they should have waited completely until graduation. Although all of these thoughts were pushed from Jasper's head as their lips met in a burning passion, quickly their tongues also became involved, fighting a battle for dominance.

Jasper won and quickly pulled Edward up from the couch, they were stumbling to his bedroom bumping in to everything on the way. Jasper pushed Edward up against one of the walls and slid his leg inbetween both of Edwards, resting it oh so close to the area that he really wanted to touch. He could feel Edward's erection pressed up against him, as he was sure Edward could feel his own. They stayed in this position for a few minutes simply enjoying the feeling of being so close to eachother, the initimacy of their kisses. They both knew what they were doing was going against everything that they had agreed but they just weren't able to stop themselves. Jasper pulled away from Edward for air and pulled him away from the wall, they stopped what they were doing for a minute and just took the time to look at eachother. Their eyes met once again and there were smiles mirrored on both of their faces, they quickly made their way to the bedroom.

Edward pushed Jasped on to the bed and climbed on top of him, pulled his shirt off as soon as he was straddling him. Jasper sat up to remove the offending piece of clothing and made quick work of Edward's tshirt as well. Edward bent down and kissed along Jasper's neck, stopping to suck on certain areas that drove him wild. How could this boy just know exactly what he wanted and liked, it was madness. After he was done with this he started to kiss down Jasper's body, stopping at his nipples to pay them extra attention for a couple of minutes and then he continued his journey southward. He stopped at the top of Jasper's trousers and kissed along this line, his tongue poking out to taste Jasper's skin. Jasper could feel himself shaking with the things that Edward was doing to him, he had never felt so out of control of his own body before. Edward finally stopped his teasing and reached his shaking hands down to undo Jasper jeans, pulling them down his body, his boxers along with them in one smooth move. Edward stopped and just stared for a minute at Jasper laid out naked before him, he couldn't tear his eyes away from just how beautiful his teacher looked. When he felt he could move again he carried on where he had left off, teasing and kissing, making sure that he never touched Jasper in the place that he really wanted it. Jasper felt sure that if Edward kept on going this way he was going to wrap his own hand around himself just to get some friction. Just before this became a reality Edward finally licked up Jasper's shaft, stopping at the head and placing kisses there. As Edward got a little more confidence he wrapped his lips around Jasper and began to move his head, sucking and licking as he did. He wrapped his hand around the base of his penis and moved it up to connect with his mouth, there was no way he could fit all of Jasper in his mouth without choking himself. Jasper could feel himself getting closer and closer to his climax and he had to stop Edward before he finished, he felt like a teenager again almost being undone so easily. He placed a hand on the back of Edward's head and softly pulled him away, Edward looked up at him his big eyes looking worried.

"Did i do something wrong?" All at once the nervous and shy Edward was back in place.

"No, no baby exactly the opposite." Jasper replied pulling Edward back up so he was level with him and he kissed his lips once again. He quickly undid Edward's jeans and began to pull them down, he stopped in shock when he realised that Edward was going commando and he raised an eyebrow at him before he continued on with his task. Edward just smirked in return and kissed Jasper once again. Jasper quickly rifled in his bedside drawer for a condom and some lube, he threw them on to the bed next to them and began to stroke Edward's erection. To his surprise Edward reached out and took the bottle of lube, he popped the cap open and squirted some on to his hands. Jasper was afraid were this was going, he had never bottomed and he wasn't sure he was ready to either. But instead of reaching down between his legs Edward reached between his own legs and slowly started preparing himself for Jasper. Well Jasper let out a loud moan, he had never seen anything so hot before. He was surprised that he didn't cum right there and then just for seeing that and the look on Edward's face as he got himself ready for him. Soon enough Edward was bouncing on his own fingers, Jasper quickly rolled the condom on and slowly took Edward's hand in his and pulled it away, he couldn't take anymore of watching him. Edward slowly lined himself up with Jasper's erection and sat down. He slowly sunk on to it inch by inch, he stopped to make sure that he adjusted to Jasper's size and then he began to ride Jasper. Jasper threw his head back on to the bed, he had never been ridden like this before and it was just so hot. He could see all of the expressions on Edward's face and hear all of the little sounds that he was making.

It wasn't long before Jasper joined in on the thrusting, these became irregular as he got closer to the edge. He could feel it building up inside himself.

"Oh Jasper, baby, I'm gonna cum." Edward yelled out, just in time as he spilled his seed all over Jasper's chest and stomach. A few seconds later and Jasper was spilling his own seed, as Edward kept riding him milking him for every last drop. Edward climbed off him and they both laid next to eachother, neither looking at the other. Jasper broke the silence with one word.

"Fuck"


	14. Chapter 14

Jasper sat up on the edge of the bed and looked for his jeans, he got ahold of them and pulled them on standing up. He then retrieved his shirt and threw that over his head too so he was once more fully dressed. He felt like such an idiot, how could he have done this. They had agreed nothing physical until after graduation and he had blown it, all because he was pissed at his friend who was just trying to protect him really. He knew now that Rose had been right, that he was being an idiot and he should have been more careful, there was so much at stake if they were found out. This was obviously going to be an end to these one on one meetings, as much as he had enjoyed talking to Edward he wasn't about to risk this happening again, they could always meet at school under the pretense of extra help. A student like Edward who had a real passion for the subject would be believed if he asked for extra help, they could talk and get to know eachother without the risk that anything more would happen. As stupid as he had been to do this he knew that he wasn't stupid enough to start something at the school.

"How could i be so stupid? I knew this time alone at my place was a bad idea, Rose was right i'm being such a fool." Jasper was walking around in circles, pulling at his hair. Edward had never seen him like this before and it was freaking him out, but his words were making him angry, he couldn't believe that Jasper was doing this.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Are we here again? Don't tell me that this was all a mistake again, we couldn't control it, it was obviously meant to happen. You need to learn to let it happen."

"Let it happen?! That's easy for you to say, what are you risking by doing this? It's not your reputation that's going to be ruined, your job lost and never being able to do the one thing that you love again." Jasper sat down heavily on the bed and put his head in his hands, he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. He always got a little teary when he got frustrated, and this was the most frustrated he had ever felt. He was so angry with himself, and he was even angrier now that Edward was being so calm about it. He wanted Edward to react the same way, with upset and anger and regret but he just knew that wasn't going to happen, Edward was far too relaxed about it all.

"Of course my reputation is on the line here, what do you think people will say about me? A student who is having a relationship with his teacher? I don't think my prospects would be looking too great if we were found out either. And as for doing what i love, it'd be unlikely i would even get in to a college with that hanging over my head." Edward screamed at Jasper, he couldn't believe Jasper was being so selfish, of course he would suffer if this came to light. How could somebody so smart be so bloody dense he would never know.

"Well if you believe all of that then you should be worried too, you let your feelings control you Edward and in this situation we can't let that happen okay? We need to just be smart about this, we need to forget that this ever happened. And i think we should leave getting to know eachother for in school only, no more private meetings alone. We obviously can't control ourselves well enough to be trusted." Edward's rage bubbled over, Jasper was speaking to him as if he were a child and as Jasper well knew he was far from that.

"How about we just stop the meetings altogether? Fuck you Jasper and your ideals, people have feelings and not all of us can keep them locked up in a box seperate from everything. You're heartless and i should have never met you, all you've done is hurt me." With those words Edward stood up and dressed quickly and walked out of the bedroom, Jasper was in shock at his words and stayed seated on the edge of his bed. He heard the front door slam and he knew that Edward had left him. He had been so awful to Edward, spoken down to him in the worst way. He knew that he had truly fucked up this time, there probably wouldn't be any more chances for the both of them and as the enormity of this hit him he broke down sobbing. He had never had a relationship to mourn the loss of and he wished he never had, it hurt so much to think that he would never have a chance with Edward. He wasn't too surprised, the way he was with him was awful and Edward had been right all he had done was hurt him. Maybe he should just forget trying to make it happen, forget all of it and just let Edward get on with his life without Jasper in it. He would probably end up much happier with Jasper anyway. He sat in that position for a long time, just thinking things over. After a while he laid down and fell in to an uneasy sleep.

The next few weeks were like torture, evertime Edward walked in to his classroom he felt his chest tighten and he had to swallow back the hurt he felt. Edward refused to look at him and when the bell rang out he almost literally ran from the room, he knew that he had lost him then. He couldn't even talk to his friends about this, they couldn't know that he had allowed anything at all to happen. In her rage Rose had told Emmett about Edward, who he was and that they were still meeting up. He hadn't spoken to her since, he refused to be the first to break the silence after what she had done. Alice had been round a couple of times, but after the first time he had told her he didn't want to speak about Edward. He reassured her that everything between them was now finished with, that nothing was going on and he hadn't seen him in weeks. He wasn't lying, but of course he left out the details of their last meeting, he simply said they had argued after Rose's interruption. He was still hurting a lot over the whole thing, but he wouldn't give in this time, he wanted Edward to be happy.

A few weeks after the argument Jasper had started to feel a little better, he wasn't as upset as he had been to begin with. That is until he heard all of the students chatting one day, there was obviously some sort of gossip going round. And apparently Edward had a boyfriend.


	15. Chapter 15

Jasper emptied his stomach in to the toilet, he had never felt so sick in his life. He saw Edward walking hand in hand down the hall with his new boyfriend, a student who had moved here a couple of weeks earlier. He was struck dumb when he saw them, Edward walked past him without even sparing him a glance, too focused on this new boyfriend of his. He leant his head against the cold stall door, and tried to control himself. He could feel the sob building up in his throat but he wouldn't let it come out, not here, not at work. He had to breathe, he knew that this was bound to happen one day. Edward was beautiful and kind and intelligent, there was no chance that he would have been able to stay single for very long. He knew then that the feelings he had for Edward had been serious, it had gone past like and somewhere in to the realm of love. He was so hurt that Edward had been able to move past him so easily, so easily throwing him away and replacing him with this new guy. He supposed it was better for Edward really, at least he didn't have to hide his relationship with the new guy, they could walk together in public hand in hand without worrying that they were going to get caught.

Jasper should have just let it go there and then, but he found himself angry and upset and he looked in to this new guys file, his name was James. The file was pretty big actually from his old school, seemed that he had had a very bad time of it. He had assaulted students and staff alike, he had brought drugs on to school property and had, on more than one occasion, been found in compromising positions with other students, and sometimes not just one other. Oh god, this was not a good guy for Edward to be getting in with. He couldn't believe that Edward would fall for a guy like this, but then anybody could pretend to be something else if they wanted to. He wanted to speak to Edward straight away, he knew that he needed to let him know what this guy was really like before he got in too deep and ended up ruining himself and getting involved in all sorts. He was torn, he had to warn Edward but he wasn't supposed to divulge any personal information from records. He left for home that day stressed and confused, he didn't know what he was going to do. He had to warn Edward but he might have to come up with another way of doing things, if Edward confronted his new boyfriend then it was obvious the information had to have come from a member of staff. The guy had moved to Forks from California, there was no way that any of the students would know anything about how he had been at his old school.

He could feel his feelings for Edward battling his professional conduct, afterall wasn't this the battle he had been having since he met Edward. He felt he was being tested, either he could leave it and let Edward decide for himself if this guy was really what he wanted or he could tell him the truth and try to make Edward see that he shouldn't be with a guy like that. I mean, he hadn't seen any evidence of the guy doing drugs or whoring around, so maybe he was just trying to make a new start and if this was the case then it would be pretty cruel to lay his past so open to Edward. Or James could have already told Edward and he had decided that he was not going to let the past get in the way now. There were so many endless opportunities to what the truth could be, but he had to find out if Edward had any idea. He owed this much to Edward, after the way he had treat him and spoken to him, although he knew that what he said was right, he should have really thought a bit more before he had spoken. Again all because of his feelings for Edward he was considering putting his career on the line, it seemed that he just kept jumping from stupid to even more stupid everytime.

He decided that he would watch their relationship closely for now, however much it would kill him he knew that he wouldn't allow Edward to be in a situation where he could get hurt. That was the worst scenario, he would just have to deal with his own pain. At least this way he couldn't be accused of giving information to a student which would be very unprofessional and would definintely earn him the sack, then they would probably wonder why he shared this information with Edward in the first place which could land him in even more trouble. No, him watching them himself was probably the best he could do for now, if it seemed that Edward was going downhill or he didn't like what he saw this boy doing then he would do something about it. But while they were having a normal teenage relationship he couldn't see that there was anything he could do, obviously Edward had moved on however much it hurt him to admit it and there was nothing he could do about it. He wished he hadn't exploded at Edward the way he had, that way he might still have had a chance with him.

For the next few weeks he watched them almost constantly, when they were apart he kept his eye on James to make sure that he wasn't getting up to anything while Edward wasn't around and for all he saw this really was just a normal teenage relationship. Maybe the new guy had turned over a new leaf, maybe Edward was helping him to start fresh. God it hurt, he never thought he would feel this kind of pain. Everytime he saw them together he felt his chest tighten, it felt like something was squeezing his heart and just waiting for it to pop. He almost wished that it would, at least he wouldn't have to feel this pain anymore. Of course to the outside world he put on his teacher face and acted like this wasn't killing him, he even had to speak to James and Edward together considering they were both in his class. This was a lovely little surprise he hadn't been expecting, though it was pretty obvious if he had stopped to think about it for a second.

After about a month had passed he started to feel a little better, his chest didn't automatically tighten whenever he saw them and he had realised that Edward was no longer his to become jealous over. He had never really been his to begin with so he supposed it wasn't like he had lost anything. During this month he had been back to the club in Port Angeles and had even taken a guy home on a couple of occasions. Perhaps this is what he is supposed to do, perhaps he wasn't supposed to have anybody special. He was just meant to have meaningless sex with random men and enjoy it, afterall he did enjoy it. He still felt like something was missing from his life, but he figured that that would go away after a while.

Little did Jasper know that his friends were becoming very concerned for him, they had never seen him so cut up over anybody and it was obvious that now instead of facing up to those feelings he was simply trying to block them out. He obviously felt like he was getting better, to looking at it from the outside it just seemed like he was numbinb himself to these feelings, using random one night flings to convince himself that he was over Edward. They knew that he couldn't keep going on like this, he would end up breaking down with the weight of it all. He had to face up to his feelings, and he had to get Edward back and they were determined that this time they would help him. Rose knew that she had been quick to judge, however right she had been, but she couldn't bear to see Jazz like this, even if she claimed that she wouldn't be there to pick up the pieces. Even Jake and Emmett where set on helping the girls with their plan, when they came up with one that is. So they all met up one night to discuss what they could do to sort everything out for their suffering friend.


	16. Chapter 16

"So," Rose started looking around at Alice, Emmett and Jake. "What are we gonna do about Jazz's little predicament with this Edward? I mean obviously it would be better if Jazz could just forget he ever existed and find somebody his own age, but unfortunately for us we know Jazz and so we know that he doesn't fall for people very often at all. We really need to figure out some way so that they can be together, but not until graduation of course. I mean it's obvious that this Edward liked Jazz and i don't think that this new guy has anything on our man but how do we make Edward see that, any ideas?"

"How about like we just go and talk to the guy?" Emmett suggested looking around hopefully, of course there were, from all three, eyebrows raised at his suggestion.

"Em, we all love you, but that must have been the most ridiculous suggestion ever. We can't just walk up to him and be all like, hey so we would really like it if you dump your little boyfriend here and wait for Jasper to grow some balls and actually do something about his feelings, oh and by the way if you wouldn't mind just waiting until graduation for us that would be just swell." Alice rushed out all in one breath.

"Okay, okay i see that it was stupid but it was just a suggestion. I don't hear anybody else rushing to suggest anything different." Emmett held his hands up, but he did make a good point. They had to think like a high school student, after all that's what Edward was. It had to be something that would show him how Jasper felt about him, show him that they were supposed to be together and that this James should totally be out of the picture. It was obvious to them that Edward had obviously cared for Jasper and had initially only gone out with this James just to make him jealous, but unfortunately for them it seemed that he really was in to this guy now. This made it harder for them to come up with any kind of a plan.

"Well what about like love letters and flowers and gifts. We could pretend to be Jasper and just write them for him, he'd never have to know about it." Alice excitedly suggested, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands.

"I suppose it's something to think about, although when he starts recieving them they're going to go either way. He's gonna be really happy or really pissed and either way he will probably confront Jasper. And if he is pissed about them i really wouldn't want to be the one who Jasper blames for it all." Jake didn't want to burst Alice's bubble, but he also didn't want a pissed off Jasper coming after either of them. He could be real harsh when he wanted to be, and he didn't think that Jasper would appreciate them meddling so deeply in his business. Of course it seemed reasonable that they would try to help him, but only to a certain degree. Sure they could tell Edward what they thought and perhaps try to influence him back to Jasper, but there was no way that they could claim any of this was coming from Jasper himself. He was sure that if it went a positive way he would thank them, but if it went negative then they would only have themselves to blame for ruining Jasper's chances. No, it had to be something that they could do, and Edward had to know that it was coming from them even if Jasper didn't or even better than that if he had no idea who it had come from then that was just fine too. He was beginning to think that talking to Edward wasn't such a bad idea when another just popped in to his head out of nowhere. A grin spread itself across his face.

"We could just keep setting it up so that they end up alone together, i'm sure we could be sneaky enough to pull that off. That way they end up together and will have to face their differences and talk about things. Then, no matter which way it goes at least Jasper took his shot and was able to speak to Edward. And we can't be blamed for like saying things that Jazzman wouldn't want us to." Jake grinned around at them all, they all looked at him a little quizzically. Rose was the first to pipe up.

"I suppose that this could possibly work but i don't see why forcing them together is really going to make much of a difference."

"It will because if they are alone then they won't be able to deny that chemistry that is just there between them, the chemistry that Jazz wouldn't shut up about for weeks after that first night they spent together." Alice had cottoned on to Jake's idea and thought it was great, they wouldn't be meddling too much, just ensuring that they had to spend some well earned time alone together. Alice actually worked as a receptionist with Edward's mother, she was thinking that she might be able to convince her that Edward wasn't doing too well in History. She always asked Alice how Edward was getting along after learning that she was friends with her sons teacher. Of course Alice always tried to avoid the subject of Edward and Jasper together just in case she ever let anything slip but this time she thought it would be a good idea. Convince her that he should definitely go up for some extra tutoring and help from his teacher, he would need it after all to secure the highest grades possible for himself. She grinned to herself, it seemed that there was a plan coming together.

She informed the others of this part of her plan and they all agreed that it was brilliant, it was definitely the best that they had and would ensure a lot of time alone together. After all these study sessions were done in half hour slots and were after hours at the school, they were also one on one sessions so you would have to be alone with your teacher. Alice knew that Edward's mother could be a very strict lady and if she wanted Edward to attend some extra lessons after school then extra lessons he would go to, she didn't mess around. Of course Edward would try and protest that he was fine at the subject but Jasper had let her know in confidence that Edward's grade had slipped a little from an A to a B since he had started up his relationship with James. It seemed that Edward and Jasper had given them all the ammo they needed to make sure they got time alone. So the very next day they started to put their plan in to action.


	17. Chapter 17

The next day Alice went to work as normal and was barely there 10 minutes when the frequently asked question came up once again.

"So how is Edward doing in his history classes, your friend say anything about his performance?"

"Well actually, I asked him for you. Of course he didn't want to tell me because it was about a student at the school but I mentioned that it was for you. I told him that i work with you and you would like to know how Edward is getting on. Apparently his grade has recently slipped a little, he was on track to getting an A grade but his work at the minute has been reflecting a B. It's pretty unfortunate he's letting his grade slip so close to the end of his school career, Jasper was pretty concerned." Alice really laid it on thick.

"Oh no, that will not do. I will have to have words with Edward about this. It's possible that this drop off in work is because of his new boyfriend. I like the boy but i will not allow him to pull Edward down, his grades are almost perfect other than this. I'll have to let him know that i will be expecting better, he will have to get back up to his A." It was working a treat, Edward's mom was getting herself pretty worked up over this drop off in grades. Alice supposed that concluding James was the reason for this drop off wasn't exactly part of the plan but it helped nontheless, and he more than likely was the cause.

"Oh well you know the school does offer extra tutoring after school, especially for the seniors at this time of the year to help them bump up their grades. I'm sure that if you got in touch with the school and let them know that Edward needed the help they would be more than happy to make sure of that, especially because he is such a good student." Alice smiled at the woman, concern written all over her features. She really was wasted in her receptionist role, she should have taken up acting.

After work that day Edward's mother had gone straight home and contacted the school, she had requested extra lessons for Edward with his teacher Mr Hale. As she put the phone down she breathed a sigh of relief, she knew that these lessons would improve Edward's grades once again and she could be happy. She wasn't too sure about Edward's new boyfriend, he seemed to have opened Edward up a bit more socially but then if he was having detrimental effects on his schoolwork then she may have to start being a little less leniant. Edward had always been such a good boy when it came to school and work in general, but now he seemed more interested in hanging out with that James than anything else and if the cracks were starting to show up in his grades then she would have to put her foot down.

She went about doing the housework and awaited the return of her son so that she could inform him of his new study hours. She knew that he would probably try to fight her at first, though he was never outright defiant he would probably try to claim that he didn't need them. She had already spoken to her husband and she had his support with this, there would be nobody that Edward could go and talk round. Just as she was thinking about this she heard the front door, she walked through the living room to greet Edward who just so happened to be accompanied by his new boyfriend.

"Edward dear, i need to talk to you. In private, so if James could perhaps leave for now." She smiled sweetly at both of them, she had that look on her face that told Edward she wasn't playing and she would get what she wanted one way or another.

"Urm, okay, let me just see James out." Edward was pretty confused, he had no idea what had prompted this from his mother, he hoped nothing bad had happened. He walked James out the front door and quickly gave him a peck on the lips goodbye, and promised he would text or call later. He made his way back in to the house to face whatever it was his mother had to say to him that other people couldn't hear. She was waiting for him sat in the kitchen, he sat in the seat opposite her and waited for her to speak.

"Edward, I know that you have not been doing very well in your history classes recently. I know that James is your first boyfriend, but that does not mean that i will sit by and let you jeopordise your education for him." She stopped at this point to raise her hand as it looked like Edward was about to speak. She made sure that he was not going to speak and carried on.

"I have signed you up for extra history lessons, one on one with your teacher. And i will not hear a word against this. You will take these extra lessons and bring your grades back up or you will stop seeing James altogether."

Edward sat with his mouth open, he had never known his mother to be quite this strict before and there was no way he wanted to take any classes with Jasper one on one, he couldn't even imagine how awkward that would be. Especially because he had been ignoring him and spending all of his time with James, he realised that he had probably really upset Jasper. And he supposed his grades really had dropped off a little, he hadn't been paying as much attention. He was eager for his lessons to end so that he could go and find James, he realised that these feelings he was having for James were in some part simply rebound feelings from what had happened with Jasper. James was a great guy but he probably wouldn't have fallen for him so fast if it weren't for everything that had happened beforehand. He gave out a great sigh, he realised that these classes were probably a good idea and his mother didn't often get this strict with him so he realised it must be important to her.

"Okay i'll do these extra classes." Edward looked up at his mom, she smiled at him and nodded her head. She stood up and went about beginning to make dinner. He got up and went to his bedroom, quickly texting James to let him know what had happened with his mom. James wouldn't be bothered, he didn't know about Jasper. As much as he felt for him he wasn't stupid enough to think that if they broke up or anything James would keep his secret, and it was far too much to risk. For him and for Jasper. He didn't know how he would handle being around Jasper so much again, he had only just started to get over him and it was hard enough the first time. He laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling thinking, until his mom called him down for dinner. One thing he didn't quite understand was how his mother had known his grades in history were slipping to begin with.


	18. Chapter 18

It was the first day of Edward's extra lessons and he could feel his nerves at a peak, they had been building up all week. He didn't know what to do with himself, he was a bit of a nervous wreck. He knew it was going to be awkward, there was no way around this. It was the truth and it was something that he would just have to live with. After all he could only blame Jasper for part of this, he was to blame as well. He could have left well alone in the first place and none of this would ever had happened, it could have been written off as one drunken evening and they could have gotten on as student and teacher. Well Edward was choosing to believe that this was possible, that the chemistry between them would never have become an issue. And whose to say that it would have, it could have been there for a while and then tailed off when nothing was coming of it. He couldn't deny that this would have been the easier way for it to go, but he also couldn't deny he would have been happy not knowing if something ever could have happened between them. He didn't regret Jasper at all, he just wished that they had been smarter about it and handled the situation better. In Edward's eyes they still could, they could still stick to their original plan and just wait until he had graduated. He knew that he shouldn't be having these thoughts at all, he had a boyfriend now. And James was a great guy, but that spark he had felt with Jasper from the beginning had never been there with James. No matter how hard he tried to make it appear, he just had to accept that it was never going to be that way for them. That was how he knew that they would never work in the long run, he supposed that with some people you just knew. He suspected even James knew that, they had been together a while now and neither of them had been close to saying the L word, and as far as he knew neither of them wanted to either. Oh well, he thought, not the time to consider all of this he better get to the extra lessons or he was going to be late.

Jasper was pacing around his classroom, he couldn't believe that of all the students he had been signed up to do extra lessons with Edward. Why couldn't somebody else in the department do his, he had enough on his plate and he just thought it was fate that he would end up having to have him. It was probably fates way of punishing him for sleeping with one of his students in the first place, or the second. Either way, it was definitely a punishment. He got to see Edward wandering around the school so happy with his new boyfriend, while he was alone and still mourning the loss of something that could have been so great. He knew that they could have been great together, they complimented each other so well. He sat down in his chair with a sigh, he supposed it just wasn't supposed to happen for him. But in Forks it was just so hard to find somebody, especially somebody gay. This was a pretty small town, and there weren't even that many people around his own age group. Life was definitely cruel, he understood what people meant when they said that now. He had gotten some stuff together for Edward to work on, topics that he seemed to be struggling with. Though half of his struggling was probably due to the fact that he hadn't been listening in the lessons at all. Jasper had seen him, staring dazedly at the clock waiting for the bell to ring. He had thought Edward was interested in History, but he was probably more interested in studying his boyfriends dick. Jasper shook his head, he had to rid himself of these bitter thoughts. It wasn't Edwards fault he had found somebody, really Jasper was happy that he had moved on. He supposed that he just thought it would take him a little longer to move on than it had. He looked up at the clock, Edward should be here any second now.

Just as Jasper had come out of his musings Edward made his way through the door, apologising for being a few minutes late. It was obvious that he had probably ran from the car park because he was out of breath, he sat down and took a long swig on a bottle of water he had been carrying with him. Jasper just nodded and gathered his sheets together, he stood and made his way over to the table and took a sit next to Edward, he made sure that they weren't sat too close.

"Okay, so I understand your mom was worried about your grade slipping?" Jasper asked Edward, keeping it very professional so they could avoid the awkward silences.

"Yeah, though i don't know how she actually knew i was failing. I thought you had rang her to tell her i needed to pick my grade back up?" Edward looked confused.

"Urm, no, it wasn't me who rang her, she rang me actually to request the lessons. Perhaps she had heard it off another mother of a child in the class or something, you know how people can talk in Forks. Either way she did seem very worried, what topics do you feel that you are struggling with?" Jasper asked.

After that the conversation ran smoothly and they got quite a bit of work completed. Jasper set Edward an essay to write for the next week when they met up, this essay would help the process of bringing his grade back up. There were moments though, when it was silent that he had felt Edward was about to say something unrelated to History, well the History they were studying anyway. He himself had been tempted but he thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. After Edward left Jasper let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Well, he thought, that wasn't so bad. Other than the heart wrenching pain in my chest i felt when i saw him leave. Jasper put his head in his hands, he knew then that he hadn't even come close to starting to get over Edward, and he probably never would. Like he had thought time and time again he had never met anybody like him and was unlikely to meet anybody else that he just matched with like that. He started gathering his things together and left to go to his one bed apartment alone, just like every other night.

Edward walked in to the house and quickly made his way upstairs to his room, he threw his backpack on the bed and kicked out at the mattress. He sat down heavily on his bed, and laid back. He threw his arms over his face and broke down. He couldn't stand to see Jasper up close, he had bags under his eyes and they had lost that sparkle they once held. He looked so much more drawn and he just sounded exhausted. And it was probably all Edward's fault. Leaving him there at his house, not talking to him about it and then turning up to school with a new boyfriend without even warning him. He realised then that he had handled the situation very childishly, his age had truly shown through in his actions. That was probably why Jasper was better off without him, he wouldn't have to put up with such stupid actions and teenage fits of anger. He also knew though that he had to break it off with James, his feelings still ran so deep for Jasper that he couldn't truly give himself to anybody else. He knew that James wouldn't be too upset, it hadn't been right between them. They were more like friends than lovers, they just hung out and played video games mostly now. He would tell him in the morning, for now he would just lock himself away in his bedroom for the night and lose himself in his thoughts, thoughts dominated by a certain curly haired teacher of his.


	19. Chapter 19

Edward got ready for the second tutoring session, he had finished his essay a couple of nights before. He had forgotten just how much he loved History, it had just seemed to take a back seat to everything else that was going on. The morning after his first tutoring session he had spoken to James, they talked through everything and decided together that it would be best for them to just be friends. James had been feeling the same way as Edward, like they had turned in to friends rather than lovers. There was just nothing worth keeping the relationship going for, not when they could still be friends anyway. Edward had also been thinking a lot about Jasper, about what had gone wrong between them. He realised that it was wrong from the beginning, they never should have had that relationship to begin with. If they had never met in that club then they probably would have simply met as teacher and student when a relationship would not have even crossed either of their minds. Most especially Jaspers, he would have been the teacher and he would not have gotten to know Edward on a personal level so there would have never been that pull toward him. He also realised that no matter how many times he went over it he couldn't change what happened. They did meet and there was something between them, whether or not they chose to avoid it was their problems. And Edward had decided enough was enough, he regretted walking out on Jasper in the first place and he was going to make him listen to what he had to say. He had to try, he would always regret it if he went away to college without ever even trying to make things happen for them. They could do it, they could wait until graduation and not meet up, that way there would be no chance of anything happening again. If the only time they were alone was in these tutoring sessions then there definitely wouldn't be a chance because they took place at the school.

"Hey" Edward greeted Jasper as he walked in to the classroom. He sat down at the same table as last time and pulled out his essay and books. Jasper came and sat beside him, he read through his essay with a smile on his face.

"This is a big improvement Edward, you've done great. This is easily A grade material." Jasper smiled up at him and kept eye contact for a little longer than normal. He soon realised this and looked away. "So since you've handed this in for extra credit you've bumped up your grade a little, but I still need one more essay off you to get it back to what it was. But I think i'll let you pick the topic of it, obviously it's got to be something we've covered in the lessons but other than that you have free rein really."

"Thank you Jas- Sir" Edward inwardly cursed himself for his stupidity, though it wasn't quite as stupid as what he said next.

"I broke up with James." The words just pushed themselves out of Edward's mouth, as soon as they were out he wanted the ground to swallow him up. He had no idea what had possessed him to tell Jasper that, there wasn't even any evidence at the minute to suggest he would even care. Edward knew though, deep down, he just wanted Jasper to know that he was available if he was ever up for anything again.

"Oh urm, i'm sorry to hear that?" Jasper had no idea if he was supposed to be happy about this or sad for Edward. Maybe he only told him because he was upset and he wanted to talk about things, he might feel like he can't talk about it with anybody else.

"Are you really? I was kinda hoping you'd be more glad than sorry." Edward replied, he didn't know where this new found confidence was coming from but he seemed to be simply running on the adrenaline. Jasper's head whipped up and his eyes found Edward's, there was a look of confusion written all over it.

"Oh right, i just thought you were happy with him that's all, i didn't want you to be upset. Don't get the wrong idea though, i can't deny i'm pretty happy i don't have to see you guys together anymore, i won't say it didn't hurt. Is there any particular reason you wanted to tell me about this?" Jasper asked, looking down at his hands. He couldn't look up at Edward, it was just too awkward asking this question. When Edward had walked through his classroom door that evening he had expected the same as last week, avoidance of the issues and simply being teacher and student.

"Well i just wanted you to know that i'm not attached i guess. Look i know what i did to you was childish and cruel as well. I should never have walked out on you and then after that i should never have tried to make you jealous with James. I just want you to think about us again, after i've graduated of course. Just think about it and don't make a decision too quickly, i know that it's still a risk for you and i know i fucked it up royally last time. But please this time i know what i want, i've already lost it once and i wouldn't risk it happening again. So just, like i said, please think about it. I'll go now and get started on my essay and i'll see you next week. Maybe we can talk about it then?" Edward looked so hopeful, his eyes pleading with Jasper not to reject him.

"Okay." Jasper nodded his head. "I'll think about it. I'm not making any promises though, what happened last time opened my eyes to the problems that we could face. I mean i don't mean to sound cruel but there is that age gap, and though it's not a big one it's still there. But i have missed you, a lot. I was so scared that there would never be a chance for us, so i'll think about it." Jasper looked up in to Edward's face just in time to see a massive grin gracing his features. He nodded his head and stood without another word, he collected all his things together and started walking towards the door.

"I'll see you next week at the same time."

Edward's mood was higher than it had been in weeks, and the smile didn't leave his face all evening.


	20. Chapter 20

Jasper sat at home that night on the couch with a beer in his hand, he had been sat thinking for the past hour or two. He had lost track of the time now and he had no idea what to do about Edward. He had gone over what he wanted and what he should do so many times already and he couldn't really see which was the best option. He was even considering going the childish route and writing a list of the pros and cons of both being with Edward and of being without him. He decided in the end to simply call the one person who he knew he could count on for some advice, whether or not she agreed with what he was thinking about, he knew that she wouldn't judge him. He rang Alice.

"Hey, look i know i told you that everything with Edward was over and done with. But there has kinda been some news on that front and i really need to talk to somebody about it." He told Alice, he was hoping that she wouldn't just put the phone down on him, his friends hadn't been too pleased with the whole Edward situation especially not when they had seen how torn up Jasper was when it ended. It was an especially sore subject for Rose, which is why he had decided she would not be the best person to call up.

"Okay okay, i'll be round in about half an hour." Alice replied, a smirk on her face because unknown to Jasper her plan was actually working and she could not have been more pleased about that. Even Rose would be pleased about this however much she disagreed with the situation to begin with.

Alice came through the door exactly half an hour after he had called her, she brought with her some more bottles of beer and some diet coke for herself, because she was driving. She placed them all on the coffee table and sat down next to Jasper, handing him an open beer.

"Okay talk to me." She looked at him expectantly, she was hoping that this was going to end a pretty positive conversation and he would be seeing that he really did want Edward by the end of it. Or if he didn't he could finally accept that he wasn't willing to risk it and then everybody could get on with their lives. Either way a decision had to be made but Alice was a sucker for love and hoped that he could work things out with Edward, secretly she really liked the sound of the boy who made Jasper so happy.

"Okay so i told you about him and what happened before and of course after when he got his little boyfriend, but now i have started having to do one on one sessions with him at the request of his mother. And the first week was fine, we didn't talk about anything other than work, it was a little awkward to begin with but then we soon got over that and actually got on with something school related. It kinda hurt to see him though, to have him so close yet know that he couldn't be mine, and then there was of course his boyfriend James to consider. It was actually harder to be around Edward than i thought it would be, i thought it would be fine but it hurt like hell knowing he was with somebody else. But then he came in the second week and again everything was going like normal until right at the end of the session, he just randomly blurts out that he broke up with James. Now of course i didn't know how he was feeling about this, so i said i was sorry to hear that. And i have no idea where his new found confidence came from but he told me that he was hoping that i wasn't sorry about it. Well obviously i was gob smacked, to be honest i had no idea why he was telling me about breaking up with his boyfriend. I figured he just wanted somebody to talk to about it or something but no he said he wanted to let me know that he was available basically. So then he starts talking about how much he regrets walking out of here, and how much he would really like to give us another shot. He said that he understands now that his reaction was childish and then he told me to consider giving him another chance, but this time without the meetings out of school or anything like that and really just waiting until he graduates. Now i had thought i was starting to get over him, but i knew as soon as i saw him the first time that this wasn't happening, i had probably just made myself numb to it by then. But i told him that i would think about it, that i wasn't gonna rush in to a decision because we had figured out that we were both very different in terms of like age, and really that when it comes to a situation like this age and maturity are pretty important things to think about, especially with the risks involved. And now i have been sat here for hours and i still have absolutely no idea what to do, i know what i want to do and what i should do but that doesn't really help me to see what i am going to do." At the end of this Jasper was almost pulling his hair out, he looked so harassed Alice almost felt bad for kick starting this whole situation but then she remembered how he was when he hadn't really been feeling anything and she would take this version of Jasper any day of the week.

"Well Jazz i mean, i can't really help you to decide how you feel about him, only you can do that. To me it sounds like you still really like him and you still want to give it a go but you're just scared of getting hurt or getting caught. I mean you have to weigh up the pros and the cons really, do you think it would be worth the risk of getting hurt or getting found out to be with Edward? Especially when he agrees that this time you would wait for graduation so really you're not particularly risking getting caught doing anything because you won't actually be doing anything." Alice summed it up pretty well, Jasper was pretty relieved that he had called her to come over.

"Well i guess i do think that he is worth the risk of getting caught other wise i never would have even thought about seeing him anymore after finding out he was a student of mine. But i guess i am afraid of getting hurt. I've never been in a full time relationship, a relationship that actually means anything to me so i have never truly been hurt before, not like Edward hurt me anyway. I guess i didn't like the feeling at all, and i don't think i could handle that happening again."

"Okay so really this is the first time that you have been hurt by anybody and so it's understandable that it's going to be even more painful and scary. But the feelings that you had with Edward before any of it ended, those are the feelings that you need to think about now. Are they enough that you would risk getting hurt again?" This was the vital question, the answer to this question was really the decision of whether or not him and Edward could try again. Could the feelings of love overcome the feelings of hurt?


	21. Chapter 21

Edward was nervous as hell, it had been days since he had brought up the fact that he still wanted Jasper and he was still waiting for Jasper to come to a decision. The first couple of days he was really understanding about it, but as the days wore on he became impatient and hurt. Days and not only did he not get answers, he got nothing. They were even supposed to have had another tutoring session by now and Jasper had cancelled, some pathetic excuse he couldn't even remember now. He knew what it really was, Jasper was avoiding Edward and wondering why was starting to eat him up. He didn't know if it was because Jasper just didn't want him at all, or if he did want him but he was so frightened of what happened last time that he was just too scared to do anything about it. Or there was the option that he still hadn't weighed up his options and decided what he wanted. Whichever way it was Edward didn't know how much longer he could take any of this, he was already regretting having said anything in the first place. Maybe this was Jasper's way of punishing him for his childish behaviour, for walking out and for throwing his relationship with James in his face. And in all honesty he really couldn't blame him if it was. He knew that as hurt and upset as he was feeling right now it had to have hurt Jasper even more to see him with somebody else so soon after everything that they had been through, after everything he had risked for Edward. Edward sighed to himself and walked up the steps and in to the school, determined to make his patience last as long as it took Jasper to come to him, he owed him that much.

Jasper was pacing the floor behind his desk, he was so confused still about what he wanted and what he should be doing about this situation. He knew what he wanted in his heart, but he supposed the question now was whether his heart or his head would win. Either way he was determined to give Edward an answer by the end of the day, poor Edward was probably already wondering why it was taking him so long to decide what he wanted. It should be a simple decision for him really, he wasn't in a relationship with anybody else, he really liked Edward and they had a pretty strong physical attraction but then there was everything else that came along with it. More than once he wished Edward was his age, that he had met him in college or something simpler, much more simple than the position that he found himself in now at any rate. He could risk losing the one person who was perfect for him, but if they got found out he could risk losing everything he had worked his whole life for. He wasn't really happy about gving up either and he wished there was a way to ensure that he could have both and lose none, but he knew things just weren't that simple, life threw you curve balls and you just had to decide how you would deal with them. Jasper spent the rest of the morning pacing his room, he just couldn't seem to stay still even during his lessons.

The day went by pretty slowly for both of the boys, just thinking about everything and letting it all play on their minds. Finally the last period of the day came, and Edward walked in to Jasper's classroom, preparing himself mentally to be ignored and get no answers once again. He looked at Jasper as he walked in but as he expected Jasper was looking elsewhere, making himself busy with some papers on his desk, probably doing it on purpose. No, Edward must stop thinking like that, he must stop taking everything so personally and just wait for Jasper to come to him when he was ready. He had to take the mature route, show Jasper that the age difference between them really wasn't that much of a big deal, that he could be just as mature as the next person. He had to, he couldn't stand the idea that his impatience caused the ending of it, he wasn't usually this impatient or immature but he supposed Jasper just seemed to have an effect on him. After what seemed like forever Jasper turned around and addressed the class, he smiled over at Edward, this left Edward stunned in his seat. He had barely look at him for days now and then when he does he gets this smile, he smiled back at him. He hoped this meant what he thought it did.

At the end of the lesson Edward dawdled putting his things away, he was hoping that Jasper would have something to say to him. He had allowed himself to become lost in his thoughts and when he looked up from packing away his things everybody else had left the room, leaving him alone with Jasper. Who just so happened to be staring straight at him.

"Edward, i'm glad it ended up just me and you, we need to talk." Jasper said, a strange look on his face. This did not look good to Edward, it looked like the kind of face you have on when you have some difficult news to break, or a really painful conversation to have. Edward's heart had leapt up in to his throat, he hoped that this was not going to be one of those moments. The smile that Jasper had flashed him earlier had melted in to the back of his mind now.

"I've been thinking a lot about our.. situation. I just can't see an easy way for this to go. I'm left with the option of waiting for graduation and then we can be together, but it's likely that there will still be a fair amount of talking, I mean you will have just left high school and i am your teacher. So it's bound to look a little peculiar to most people. But even with that i am wondering if we truly could wait, it's alright you saying we can but there's a fair few weeks between then and now and i saw how fast you got with James. I understand that you're a teenager and that you're emotions are running wild, it wasn't that long ago that i was in your shoes you know. I'm not prepared to risk everything that i have if you can't gurantee me that you will be waiting at the end for me, i don't want to wait for you only to have you turn around and tell me that you have met somebody else. I know that you think that you're mature and you can handle this but can you really? Can you gurantee me, above anything else, that you will still want me when you've graduated? I can't stand the hurt that i felt before, not again." Jasper looked at Edward patiently, waiting for a reply. Edward now finally understood just how hurt Jasper must have been before, how much he had hurt him and he felt his chest tighten with the pain of his regret. He couldn't believe he had been so cold and selfish, he had to make that up to the brilliant man who stood in front of him baring his soul for Edward.

"Jasper, i know that i let you down before. I showed immaturity that just isn't like me. In all of the weeks that we were talking and hanging out, i was never that guy. I just felt so hurt and alone, i just wanted to make you feel the same and i know that's childish but i don't think that has anything to do with my age at all really. I think most people feel like that in relationships when they get so hurt, they just want to hurt the other person and everybody can become that childish if they're hurt enough. I know i will want you, i have never wanted anyone or anything so much in my life, and i know that isn't too long i guess but i do want you. And i can gurantee you that i will still want you when i graduate, we can weather the storm together after our relationship goes public. Whatever you choose is up to you, but i can say without a doubt that i will not let you down like i did before, and we will wait for graduation and then we can be happy and together properly." Edward looked in to Jasper's eyes, pleading with him to believe what he was saying. He needed Jasper to believe him, whether or not he chose to take the risk was up to him but at least now he knew how Edward felt about it all. Edward at least could not regret the fact that he never tried to get him back.

"Okay, Edward. I still want you, however much i fight it i don't think i will ever win. I will wait for you for graduation, but we must wait until then. Nothing can happen until then, we can not speak about it again until then and we become a normal student and teacher. We can't give anything away this time."

"I agree, we need to be careful and we will be. I just can't tell you how happy i am that you decided to give us another chance. I know you won't regret it, and i definitely will never regret it. I'll go now, don't want people to be talking. We can just say that we were discussing my essay because we missed our session. I'll see you at tomorrow.. Sir." Edward left the classroom then with the biggest grin ever on his face, he couldn't believe that he could ever feel this happy, he knew what people meant now when they said they felt like they were walking on air. That's how he felt, weightless. He was absolutely thrilled, and honestly relieved, he had been a little unsure of how Jasper would decide. He left the school that day happier than he had been in weeks, he couldn't believe that graduation was just around the corner, and so was the relationship that he had been waiting for.


	22. Chapter 22

The last few weeks had dragged like nothing Jasper had ever experienced in his life before, he couldn't believe how slow time seemed to be going. He had never had to wait this long for something that he wanted so much, he could feel his fingers itching to touch Edward whenever he was around him. But so far they had both been able to restrain themselves and act like a normal teacher and student, bar a few loooks. But that seemed to be something that they just couldn't help. Edward had handed in his essay and done perfectly again, and he was back up at his target grade and Jasper could breathe a sigh of relief, though he did feel a bit wrong marking his work. He wondered what people would say about that. Jasper wasn't naive enough to believe that nobody would say anything just because Edward had graduated, he had still been Jasper's student and they would still have to be really careful how they handled bringing their relationship public. There would of course be some angry parents who would believe that Jasper just gave Edward good grades because he wanted him, of course these would be the parents of the kids who didn't do very well in his class. Any excuse for a reason to try to get their kids a better grade, he couldn't blame them it was the perfect excuse. He hoped that most of the community would be pretty supportive, but again wasn't naive enough to believe this at all, especially not until it had actually happened. They would probably think that Jasper had been grooming Edward all year. He wanted so bad to protect Edward from what the public would say, but he was afraid that Edward might have a job of it just telling his parents. He didn't know what Edward's parents were like when it came to his personal relationships, would they trust him to make his own decisions and support him or would they go the total opposite way and be outraged. He hoped for Edward's sake that they supported him, he didn't want to come inbetween somebody and their parents, especially not Edward. Jasper stood from behind his desk and away from his musings, he had to stop letting all of this play on his mind and just wait and see what would happen. At least there was no proof that they were already seeing eachother while he was in school, that would have been a disaster. He packed away his bag and headed for the door, only a few more weeks to go.

Edward laid on his bed lost in his own thoughts on the matter. He knew that Jasper had been worrying overtime, probably for the both of them but Edward wasn't some stupid little teenager who didn't know what the consequences could be. Even though their relationship would be going public after graduation, and therefore he would no longer be Jasper's student he knew that there would still be some people who didn't agree with their relationship. He really hoped that his parents were supportive, he couldn't stand to lose them over something that made him so happy. But he would stick to his guns, he would stay with Jasper. Jasper was so important to him that he was not willing to give him up because there were a few narrow minded people who didn't believe he was capabale of love at his age, or believed that he had been groomed by Jasper. If anything it was the other way round, this relationship was Edward's idea and he was the one who pushed for it and he would make sure that people knew that and then if they wanted to still judge them they had no business being in his or Jasper's lives. He knew all of this yet he still liked to believe in the best of people, and he hoped that that wouldn't change in the course of their coming out. He supposed that they would just have to wait and see, there was no point in worrying himself and getting himself wound up. This was not the time for it, not finals time. He had all of his final projects completed and now he would just have to sit his finals and he would be done. He knew that he was likely to get good grades, he had worked hard enough for them and he wasn't willing to let this worry ruin any of that hard work. He got up off his bed and walked towards his ensuite, he needed to relax and let go of his thoughts. Afterall, whatever will be will be.

Edward had finished sending off all of his college applications months ago, he never had a chance to tell Jasper about it because it was after they had fallen out. He didn't know how Jasper would feel about his decision but he wanted him to know it had nothing to do with his feelings or their relationship. He had decided at the end of the last summer that he wanted to take a year out before going off to college, he didn't want to be in constant education and already had a little job set up at the local library. His parents had agreed with his decision providing he still went to college a year later, he was going to Washington state anyway so it's not like he would be far away when he did go. But he knew Jasper and he knew how paranoid he could be, he would probably think Edward had done all this to stay close to him but it wasn't that at all. He just hoped he could get Jasper to stay still long enough to listen to him, rather than to just feel Edward made his decisions on the basis of staying close.

Edward had finally finished all of his finals and handed in any pieces of work, for him high school was pretty much over. His graduation was in a couple of weeks, and he was nervous as hell. All he had been thinking about was being able to touch Jasper and now he thought about it it gave him butterflies. He was nervous about what everybody would say, not for himself really but for Jasper. He already must be having a hard time with the rumour mill considering he was the youngest teacher at Forks High and was newly qualified. Though the results for this year would speak volumes for him, he had gotten everybody in his classes passed and most of them with some pretty amazing results really, so they couldn't try to say he didn't know what he was doing now at least. They were at their last class of the day and it was History, it was simply a free period now though and Jasper had gotten everybody in to a discussion about what they would be doing after school. Uh oh this was not how Edward wanted to tell Jasper about his decision, though he had a sneaking suspicion Jasper only brought up this topic anyway to find out what Edward's plans were. He couldn't have asked him outright considering their little agreement to no private meetings or communication. Just as he expected it got to his turn and he told everybody what he was planning on and he saw Jasper's face screw up a little in concentration and then his eyes fell to the floor. Jasper was already blaming himself and their relationship for this decision. This is not how Edward wanted to start off their relationship so he kept talking about how he had made the decision and his parents had agreed, as he kept talking Jasper's face brightened and he gave a little nod in Edward's direction. Well they dealt with that sort of, he knew that Jasper would probably still have questions for him once they could speak in private about it, but it was now just time to deal with their coming out.


	23. Chapter 23

It was finally here, graduation day. Edward had woken up at like 6 am. He was so excited, like a kid on christmas morning. All he had to do was get through the graduation and the pictures and the after drinks, but tonight that was all for him and Jasper. They could finally be around eachother and talk and enjoy eachothers company without anybody being able to say anything to them. Well without them being able to do anything about their relationship anyway, he knew that this wasn't going to be easy and that they would have to do this bit by bit but he knew that they could. He had about an hour until he had to leave and he had just gotten out of the shower, he wanted to look extra nice today so he spent time on his hair and his clothes making sure that everything was perfect. An hour later when him and his parents left their house he was sure that he at least looked good, he smiled to himself as he slid in to the back of their car and it didn't leave his face the whole drive over.

Jasper looked in to his mirror and huffed out a breath. He was finally ready to leave, he was so nervous, he could feel the butterflies in his stomach. Nobody else had ever gotten to him like this and he kinda liked the nervous excited feelings. He would be able to be with Edward in the way he wanted tonight, he could hold his hand and kiss him and there was nothing really that could be done about it. He smiled to himself, he had on his smart suit and he was ready to attend his first graduation as a teacher, rather than a graduating student. He had gotten through his first few months and he was looking forward to the next year, he really did enjoy his work. He just hoped that his relationship with Edward wouldn't end up affecting it in a negative way, it's not like he was a predator after all of the students. It was just that him and Edward had a special connection, he had never met anybody he connected with like Edward. He shook his head and banished those thoughts away, he would not think negative on a day like this. He was going to enjoy the day and most especially he was going to enjoy the night. He had had a quick conversation with Edward, he had said that he wanted to hang out with him the night of graduation. Jasper had tried to convince him to go to parties or whatever high school kids did the night of graduation now but he wouldn't be swayed and in all honesty he was far too eager to have Edward to himself that he agreed probably much faster than he should have. He turned and left the flat, and made his way to the school singing along to the radio in his car.

The ceremony was beautiful, it ran smoothly and flawlessly and luckily for all of the students none of them fell off the stage. They all managed to get across and recieve their diplomas, they got some good pictures and Edward shot Jasper a wink as he walked across the stage, both of them kept making eye contact and smiling at eachother all day. Jasper and Edward could both feel the excitement levels rising as the day wore on, after the ceremony everybody was shaking hands and taking pictures together. Edward was dragged in to plenty of pictures with his friends and his parents and teachers. He was stood talking to his friends when he heard his mother shouting for him, he turned around and to his amusement she had managed to collar Jasper and was thanking him for all of the help he had been to Edward. Edward walked over to the two of them with a huge grin on his face. His mother started fussing when he got over to thank his teacher properly for all of the extra work that he had done to ensure that Edward got the grade he had. Jasper kept trying to put the spotlight on Edward, saying it was his hard work in the end that made him achieve the level he had gotten, it was well deserved. His mother brimming with tears pushed the two of them together for a photo, Edward could not have planned this better, he had hoped that he would manage to get a picture of him with Jasper in his robes. It was definitely a day to remember and he wanted to capture it to keep forever.

Everybody soon made their way to the drinks reception, this was mostly for parents though as the students would soon all disappear to go and enjoy the parties that were being held all night long to celebrate their success. And for most of them going away to college it was a time to be saying all of their goodbyes. Edward made sure that he said his goodbyes to his close friends who were going to be going away to college, though he was sure that he would see them before they left anyway to go to their college lives. They still had a few weeks before they really had to be leaving, they should enjoy the short summer that they would get. Of course he had promised some of them that he would be going to this party and that party but he knew that he wouldn't be going to any of them. He was far too eager to get Jasper on his own and finally be able to enjoy the relationship that they had been waiting for. No hiding, no secrets and no mounting frustrations. It sounded like bliss to him. He would have to turn off his cell phone though or he would be bombarded all night by his friends calls and messages asking where the hell he was. He was getting restless as he quickly drank down his orange juice, he told his parents that he was going to head home and get ready for the night ahead. They both gave him stern looks and speeches about being careful and not drinking too much, he nodded his head along assuring them that he would be careful. They both smiled at him and hugged him telling him how proud they were, and with one last "have fun" he left to go and enjoy the night the way that he wanted to.

Jasper had been watching Edward from across the room at the drinks reception, he had been trying hard not to spend all of his day around him, afraid that it would give them away on their last day. He couldn't believe that he had managed to get such a beautiful man to want to be with him, but Edward wanted him and that was enough for Jasper. He watched as Edward hugged his parents and appeared to be saying his goodbyes, he quickly put down his champagne and made his excuses to his colleagues and left through the same door as Edward a few minutes later. He got outside just in time to see Edward pulled out of his parking space in his parents car and make his way towards home to get ready for the night ahead. Jasper smiled to himself and looked up at the clear night sky, he was ready to finally begin the relationship he had been hoping for.


End file.
